He channelled his paranormal side with his performance as the angel Aziraphale in hit comedy Good Omens, teaming up with David Tennant’s demon character to fight the Antichrist.

But Michael Sheen’s early interactions with the supernatural were of a slightly different kind, involving a flying saucer hovering over the Welsh industrial town of Port Talbot.

The actor, 56, told the Scarred For Life podcast that upon his family’s return to their hometown, after a brief stint in Wallasey, near Liverpool, young Michael soon became convinced that the area was a H๏τspot for aliens.

‘That’s the thing about Port Talbot – it turns out it’s very UFO-ey,’ the star, who first revealed his run-in with extraterrestrial life in 2019, said. ‘So when we got back to Port Talbot in 1977, we moved into this house on the hillside that overlooks Port Talbot.

‘And you know it’s new buildings, new houses being built, and the family who lived nextdoor to us – I remember I was only eight when we got there – there was a lady nextdoor, who was very conservative with a small c, not a big character, quite quiet and very sensible.

‘My parents said she had told them that when she had been in the kitchen, she had a window that looked onto the back garden which was going up the hill, you were essentially looking back up the mountain and nothing had been built back there at that point.

Michael Sheen’s has revealed his early interactions with the supernatural involved a flying saucer in the Welsh industrial town of Port Talbot

The actor (pictured, as Tony Blair in The Queen in 2006) revealed that upon his family’s return to their hometown he soon became convinced that the area was a H๏τspot for aliens

‘She had been in the kitchen doing the washing up or whatever and she had seen a UFO hovering over her back garden.

‘And I was told this at the age of eight about this woman who was clearly very sensible so I believed it.’

But that was only the start of the Damned United star’s relationship with the paranormal, witnessing some strange occurences with his own eyes just a few years later.

The actor, who returned to live in the town in 2024, told the show: ‘Then when I was about 12, I was coming home from school. I used to go on the school bus and it would drop me off at the end of the road.

‘And I would walk up my to my house and as I would turn up the drive to my house, to my right was the edge of the mountain and behind me was the town and going out to sea.

‘And just as I turned I saw something come around the edge of the mountain off in the distance – a light coming round.

‘So I sort of stopped and this light came out and then two lights behind it and then three lights behind it and then I saw a phalanx of light coming from behind the mountain and floating out over the sea.

‘And as I’m standing there I’m thinking, “I think those are UFOs, I’m fairly certain those are UFOs”, and I thought I had to go into my house and tell my family there are UFOs out here, or lights, and they should come and have a look.

‘That’s the thing about Port Talbot – it turns out it’s very UFO-ey,’ he said (pictured: Michael in Port Talbot in 2022)

The star (pictured, with parents Meyrick and Irene aged six months) said: ‘I sort of stopped and this light came out and then two lights behind it and then three lights behind it’

‘But I knew if I went in they might disappear so I stood there transfixed and watched them all come out over the ocean and they stopped and then they all disappeared. 

‘And then I had to go into the house and go, “umm I think I’ve just seen…”, and no one believed me obviously.’

It seems the family of aliens who call Port Talbot home have not moved on. Decades later, Michael’s father spotted something rather strange hovering over the Welsh shoreline.

‘And then years and years later, now we’re getting to about 10 years ago, it was New Year’s Eve and my dad went upstairs to my mum and dad’s bedroom,’ he added. ‘It had gone midnight but he sort of wanted to see if he could see some fireworks because he was looking out across the town.

‘And he said he saw something in the sky above Port Talbot that wasn’t just a light – at first he thought it was fireworks – it was pulsating lights floating and he thought, “I’m seeing something extraordinary and obviously this will be on the news tomorrow and people will be talking about it”, and nobody did.

‘I have since heard that people have seen things in Port Talbot so I think there’s something going on there.’ 

Earlier this month, fans branded Michael a ‘man of the people’ after the actor began his mission to clear £1million of debt for 900 people with his own money.

As part of new Channel 4 show Michael Sheen’s Secret Million Pound Giveaway, the  Damned United star, 56, has bought up the vast sum of debt using £100,000 of his hard-earned cash.

He added: ‘I have since heard that people have seen things in Port Talbot so I think there’s something going on there’ (pictured: Michael in Port Talbot in 2022)

Earlier this month, fans branded Michael a ‘man of the people’ after the actor began his mission to clear £1million of debt for 900 people with his own money 

Michael started the process of setting up a debt acquisition company to help people in south Wales after he saw John Oliver do something similar in the US almost 10 years ago.

The programme also set out to reveal how some banks and finance companies make profit from society’s most vulnerable. 

And viewers have taken to social media to heap praise on the Welsh actor after watching his journey to make a difference to the lives of those struggling financially.

One posted on X: ‘Michael Sheen. A true man of the people. Would back him all the way if he went political. He gets it. He understands.

Another emotional user added: ‘I’m not crying. Michael Sheen has always been a decent bloke, from his unending support for the NHS, through his work with local charities, his amazing Pᴀssion Play, up to his generous fight against debt and poverty. A wonderful actor and a decent bloke.’

A third said: ‘Michael Sheen is a hero! #MichaelSheenBigGive #C4 #Channel4’

Speaking about his gesture on The One Show, the actor said: ‘I didn’t have £100,000 to throw around so I wanted it to be effective but when I realised that I could do this, that I could [get] £1m worth of people’s debt and just write it off, it seemed like a good thing to do.

‘People’s debt gets put into bundles and then debt buying companies can buy those bundles and then they can sell it on to another debt buying company at a lower price.

Michael started the process of setting up a debt acquisition company to help people in south Wales after he saw John Oliver do something similar in the US almost 10 years ago 

The programme also set out to reveal how some banks and finance companies make profit from society’s most vulnerable

‘So the debt itself, even though the amount of people who owe is still the same, the people who own the debt can sell it for less and less money.’ 

He explained: ‘So I was able to set up a company and for £100,000 of my own money, but £1million worth of debt, because it had come down in value.’

Michael was driven on by the people he met, including a woman in a Port Talbot cafe who told him about ‘steelworkers in tears’ after they lost their jobs following the closure of Port Talbot’s last blast furnace and the end of traditional steelmaking in south Wales.

It comes just a month after Michael was praised for ‘putting his money where his mouth is’ by funding a new national theatre company in Wales. 

The actor is reportedly set to become the artistic director of the Welsh National Theatre.

With its first production set to start in 2026, Michael told the Mirror that he likes ‘the idea of starting small and building up’.

The move came after National Theatre Wales said last month it had ‘ceased to exist’ after £1.6m in cuts to its core funding from Arts Council Wales.

Michael also revealed that the new company didn’t have funding yet, but he will work with what he has.

Speaking about his gesture on The One Show, the actor said: ‘I didn’t have £100,000 to throw around so I wanted it to be effective’ 

Read More Fans hail Michael Sheen as a ‘hero’ and ‘man of the people’ as he clears £1m debt for 900 Brits

He told the publication: ‘I like the idea of starting small, simple, lean and building it up, working with what you’ve got. 

‘Don’t pay for swanky offices if you don’t need them, build it slowly with care and with pᴀssion and with vision and with ambition.

‘We aim to represent the Welsh people so I would hope that public bodies would be prepared to work with us.

‘I think probably history tells us that relying too much on any one source of funding makes you a bit vulnerable so I first and foremost would hope that this company can stand on its own two feet but we are open to working with whoever wants to get involved.’