Award-winning actor and human rights activist Martin Sheen has a laugh with the audience at the Turner Construction Student Forum held yesterday afternoon in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center. (Lindsey Perkins)

The Hughes-Trigg Ballroom became a Hollywood scene when actor and human rights activist Martin Sheen answered questions at the Turner Construction Student Forum last night.

Students from SMU and surrounding high schools began congregating more than an hour early to hear Sheen speak. So many people attended that many had to watch his presentation from the Hughes-Trigg Theater.

“I love so much of Martin Sheen’s work,” 15-year-old Amy Pool said. “I flipped out when I heard he was coming to SMU. I made sure I got the best seat in the house.”

Sheen first began acting on Broadway in 1964. In the 1970s he had a role in the television series “The Execution of Private Slovik” for which he receive an Emmy nomination. Sheen is best known for his staring roles in both “Apocalypse Now” and White House drama series “The West Wing.”

“Before I joined the cast of ‘West Wing’ my only requirement was that I could not play another president,” Sheen said.

Sheen has also appeared in the Academy Award-winning movie “The Departed” as well as several other box office hits.

“It is always neat to see someone in person who you have seen in movies your entire life,” first-year Eric Park, an usher at the forum, said.

Sheen was part of a large family; both his parents were immigrants. Sheen has been a radical since youth, saying, “I grew up with a picket sign in my hand and a desire for justice.”

In addition to playing political figures on screen, Sheen also supported the 1965 farm worker movement with Cesar Chavez, causes for PETA and the Democrats for Life of America’s Pregnant Women Support Act.

Despite his refusal to run for political office, Sheen has been an advocate to presidential candidates Howard Dean and John Kerry.

Throughout the question and answer session, Sheen answered students honestly. When asked what was his greatest challenge as an actor, Sheen responded with “staying sober.”

Sheen filled in for actor Michael Douglas who, because of conflicting acting commitments, could not make the lecture. Sheen lightheartedly said he was used to getting confused with Douglas because of their striking resemblance.

Following the student forum, Sheen was the featured speaker for the Tolleson Lecture of the Tate Lecture Series, held in McFarlin Auditorium. There, Gary Cogill, a film critic for WFAA-TV and three-time Katie Award winner, interviewed him on his past experience as a human-rights activist and renowned actor.

ABC News Anchor Bob Woodruff and his wife, Lee Woodruff, will be the next speakers in the Tate Lecture series, and will be on campus to participate in the Day Jones Lecture on March 4.