Actor Michael Sheen has had the type of career some actors can only dream of, and in a recent interview the BAFTA, Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG nominated star has revealed that he would like to turn himself into a “social enterprise, a not-for-profit actor” and pledged to give the majority of his future acting earnings to promoting social causes. Having appeared in every genre possible, from the drama of Frost/Nixon, to the Twilight Saga, to Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and numerous TV roles, Sheen is one of those actors that everyone has seen in something, even if they don’t know it, and he is also well known as one of the most genuine people working in the business, so the statement doesn’t appear to be too much out of character.

Speaking to U.K.’s The Big Issue in their latest issue published on Sunday, Sheen explained how he feels he had reached a position in his career that allows him to get people to listen to him and has provided him the opportunity to give back for all the times others have helped him in the past. He told the publication:

“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. 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. 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.”

Sheen went onto explain how the experience of working as part of a National Theatre Wales production of The Passion in 2011 had a huge impact on him, and showed him how a little help goes a long way. He explained, “That project involved the entire town and it was a big awakening for me. I got to know people and organizations within my hometown that I didn’t know existed. Little groups who were trying to help young carers, who had just enough funding to make a tiny difference to a kid’s life by putting on one night a week where they could get out and go bowling or watch a film and just be a kid.”

Only a few months later, Sheen recalled he returned to his hometown to find that the much-needed funding was no longer being provided. “That stuff doesn’t make the news but it makes a massive difference to kids’ lives. I realized the difference between that child’s life being a little bit better or not was ultimately a small amount of funding. And I wanted to help those people. I didn’t just want to be a patron or a supportive voice, I wanted to actually do more than that. That’s when I thought, I need to go back and live in Wales again.”

Sheen helped organize the Homeless World Cup in Cardiff in 2019, which provided another reality check on just how little money is provided for some causes in desperate need of funding when the even was on the verge of getting shut down. “Suddenly, with not long to go, there was no money. I had to make a decision – I could walk away from it, and it wouldn’t happen. And all those people from all around the world who were banking on coming to have this extraordinary experience, maybe a life-changing experience, wouldn’t have it,” he said. “I thought, I’m not going to let that happen. So I put all my money into keeping it going.”

He continued to reveal how he sold his homes in both Wales and the U.S. to make sure the event was able to go ahead. “It was scary and incredibly stressful. And I’ll be paying for it for a long time, but 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 most recently appeared in the now-canceled Fox thriller series Prodigal Son, lockdown comedy Staged with David Tennant, and appears in the new holiday movie Last Train to Christmas for Sky Cinema and Now in the U.K.