How One Welsh Actor Cleverly Addressed Systemic Poverty

By being a genuine modern-day Good Samaritan

A man in despair because of poverty. Note: he only has one shoe. Photo by Steve Mushero on Unsplash

This story is of how Welsh actor Michael Sheen, who grew up poor, then became wealthy only to lose it again, used his own money to help debt-ridden Welsh people breathe again.

Sheen is an actor gifted with a social conscience.

“In 2021, Sheen declared himself a not-for-profit actor — a bit of a throwaway line, but one based on his conviction that he had a responsibility to put as much of his earnings as he could towards causes and projects. Much of that centres around his local community: in Port Talbot, where the last of the steelworks’ blast furnaces recently shut, people are struggling, and in south Wales, 30% of children live in poverty.”

Statistically, that poverty reads thus

Around 30% of children in Wales are living in poverty. 26% of children in working households live in poverty.

45% of children aged 7–11 told us they worried about having enough to eat, and a significant number of children and adults worried about other costs related to basic needs.

Frankly, these statistics read more like the social deprivation of the 1920s and not the year 2025.