"Fr Shay Cullen truly is a hero, " said Sheen. "I would be honoured to portray him in a movie. Thank God for Fr Shay, he is a very powerful inspiration and has saved the lives of thousands of these poor children, and he's helped jail some of the world's most evil paedophiles. What he has achieved is nothing less than a miracle."

Sheen first came across Cullen's work with abused children while making his 1979 epic Apocalypse Now. Cullen recalls: "He had done part of the movie up our way south of Manila, the famous helicopteron-the-river scenes, but we didn't meet at that point. He was shocked with the poverty, and when they were making the film he saw and reflected deeply on the evils of war, which led to him getting very involved in the peace movement. After the film was made, he went on his way."

But Sheen returned to the Philippines three years later and sought out the priest.

"When I first met him, he was very religious and committed to human rights, " said Cullen, who runs the Preda Foundation. "During the Vietnam War, he had a deep spiritual experience which eventually led him to completely changing his life. He said to mef'Look, use me in any way you can to help these people.'" Their first meeting took place in the notorious Payatas dump . . . home to thousands of indigent people . . . which Cullen describes as a smouldering toxic wasteland. Sheen says:

"Fr Shay took me to witness the plight of 5,000 families surviving on a garbage dump. It was totally unimaginable. This was one of the most desperate situations in the world. I couldn't understand why more was not being done to highlight it."

The actor paid for special shelters and washing facilities for the stricken people, and later learned about the horrific levels of child prostitution. "I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what was happening to those poor kids. Children treated like contraband, sexually abused and simply thrown away, " he said.

Sheen, a staunch Catholic and star of The West Wing, is currently in Ireland helping promote Cullen's new autobiography, Passion And Power.

Cullen testifies to Sheen's down-to-earth style, revealing that the actor was offered a limousine and private plane to take him to Dublin for last night's Tubridy Tonight show on RTE, but refused and insisted on taking the train instead.