Michael Sheen has Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and BAFTA Award nominations to his name, and now, he’s decided to pass along his wealth. The Good Omens actor says he’s “essentially turned [himself] into a social enterprise, a not-for-profit actor” in an essay penned for The Big Issue.
“I’ve realized in the last few years that I want to be one of those people who help other people the way so many people helped me,” Sheen wrote. “I don’t want to just be someone who enjoys the fruits of what other people have done and then pull the drawbridge up and go, well I’m alright Jack, I’ve had a nice time.”
The actor continued: “I’m at the stage of my life and career where I have a window of opportunity that will probably never be this good again. I’m able to get people in a room, I can open doors. I don’t want to look back and think, I could have done something with that platform. I could have done something with that money.”
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Sheen cited recent events in his life, such as helping to organize the Homeless World Cup in Cardiff in 2019, as motivators for redistributing his wealth. When the Cup was struggling financially, he said he sold his homes in both Wales and the US in order to fund it.
“I put all my money into keeping it going,” he wrote. “I’ll be paying for it for a long time. When I came out the other side I realized I could do this kind of thing and, if I can keep earning money it’s not going to ruin me. There was something quite liberating about going, alright, I’ll put large amounts of money into this or that, because I’ll be able to earn it back again.”
Sheen is set to return in the forthcoming second season of Good Omens, the Amazon series based on Neil Gaiman’s 1990 novel of the same name. His latest movie Last Train to Christmas debuts on Sky Cinema on December 18th.
