William Shakespeare was baptised in Stratford-upon-Avon on 26 April 1564 and probably born a few days earlier. He married Anne Hathaway in 1582; their children were Susanna and the twins Hamnet and Judith.
Actor, shareholder, playwright
By the early 1590s Shakespeare was working in London. He became an actor and shareholder in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later the King’s Men. The company performed at the Globe and, later, the indoor Blackfriars theatre.
Print and posterity
Some plays appeared in quarto editions during his lifetime. In 1623, seven years after his death, fellow actors John Heminge and Henry Condell published the First Folio, preserving eighteen plays not previously printed.
Mind the gaps.The documentary record is substantial but incomplete. Confident stories about private beliefs, travels, or romantic identities often go beyond what the evidence can prove.