Michael Sheen: Charity Work & Causes

Michael Sheen is a Welsh actor known for his roles in The Queen and the Twilight films, and a self-declared “not-for-profit” actor.

The seeds of his philanthropy were sown over a decade ago, when participating in a production of The Passion in his hometown of Port Talbot in 2011. During this time, Sheen became acquainted with the local non-profits – small groups that provided opportunities for disadvantaged children and the like. However, when he visited months later, the organisations had dissolved due to a lack of funding. “That stuff doesn’t make the news but it makes a massive difference to kids’ lives,” Sheen told British newspaper Big Issue. “I realised the difference between that child’s life being a little bit better or not was ultimately a small amount of funding.”

He had the opportunity to become this difference while he was helping to organise the 2019 Homeless World Cup. After seeing the event run out of funding close to its completion, he made the call to provide the rest himself. To do this, he had to sell two of his houses. Though he says he “will be paying for it for a long time”, he had an epiphany; “I realised I could do this kind of thing and if I can keep earning money, it’s not going to ruin me.”

Sheen is the president of TREAT Trust Wales, a charity which aims to provide a rehabilitation and therapy centre in the grounds of Swansea’s Morriston Hospital.

He has taken part in Soccer Aid for UNICEF, is an ambassador of the environmental charity Keep Wales Tidy, and a patron of Scene & Heard, NSPCC’s Child’s Voice Appeal, Healing The Wounds, The Relationships Centre and WGCADA.

He is also the Welsh ambassador of FILMCLUB, a charity which offers after-school film clubs to state primary and secondary schools in an effort to improve literacy levels.