Michael Sheen has paid off £1 million of debt for 900 people using £100,000 of his own money.
The Welsh actor, known his for roles in Good Omens and the Twilight saga, used the £100,000 to start up a debt acquisition company to help the struggling individuals in his native south Wales.
The business venture is documented in an upcoming Channel 4 documentary titled Michael Sheen’s Secret Million Pound Giveaway, which is set to air next week. The show aims to reveal how banks and finance companies are profiting from the country’s most vulnerable.
“The shocking thing is that people have started having to use credit cards, overdrafts to pay for basics, to pay for necessities, rather than luxuries or anything like that, so the debt that I was able to buy included credit card debt, overdrafts, car finance, that kind of stuff,” said Sheen (via The Hollywood Reporter).
“You need some help to get through these times. And people are getting into spirals of debt. Once you’re underwater it’s very hard to get out again. That’s why I wanted to do this — to draw attention to the fact that this is going on, and there is a way to change it, there are alternatives, and we need to push to try and make a difference for people.”
Appearing on BBC‘s The One Show on Wednesday (March 5), Sheen said he was initially cautious about using his money to start up the debt acquisition company. The actor said he doesn’t have £100,000 to “throw around” and therefore wanted the project to be “effective”.
It was only after he met a woman in a Port Talbot cafe, who told him about “steelworkers in tears”, that he decided to go ahead with the company. The actor’s venture comes five months after the closure of a blast furnace in Wales, marking the end of traditional steelworking in the Port Talbot region, which lead to a widespread loss of jobs.
In recent months, Sheen also self-financed a new national theatre to replace the National Theatre Wales, which was forced to close in 2024 due to £1.6 million funding cut.
The actor said the closure of National Theatre Wales was “incredibly sad, but not a surprise” and that it motivated him to find a solution. “[I realised] if we don’t find a way to reimagine the way forward, it may be a long time — if ever — that we have the opportunity to have a national theatre in Wales again.
“I want it to be something that represents the rich culture that we are and always have been in this country.” he added, explaining that the company is now seeking private and public funding but self-financing will allow the theatre to stand “on its own two feet.”
Sheen is reprising his role as Aziraphale in the third and final season of Good Omens, which will now premiere as a single 90-minute episode instead of a full series. The final instalment will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, but a release date has not yet been set.