William Shakespeare was a professional actor who performed in his own plays and owned part of his theater company.

Historical records from the 1590s show that Shakespeare was a working actor in London. In 1592, a writer named Robert Greene wrote about Shakespeare being on stage. By 1594, Shakespeare became a shareholder in his theater company. This meant he helped run the business and shared in the profits.Shakespeare acted in plays written by other people too. A book from 1616 by Ben Jonson lists Shakespeare as a main actor in the play Every Man in His Humour. He also acted in a play called Sejanus His Fall in 1603. He worked alongside famous actors of the time like Richard Burbage.Early historians noted that Shakespeare played the Ghost in his own play, Hamlet. He also likely played the character Adam in As You Like It. Being an actor helped him write better scripts. He knew exactly how to write lines that were easy for actors to say and exciting for the audience to hear.In 1623, Shakespeare's friends published a collection of his plays called the First Folio. This book lists Shakespeare at the top of the list of the main actors for all the plays. This proves his friends saw him as a professional actor first. His writing often uses theater words because he spent so much time on the stage.