Claim: William Shakespeare was a German actor.

William Shakespeare -LRB- -LSB- ˈʃeɪkspɪə -RSB- 26 April 1564 -LRB- baptised -RRB- -- 23 April 1616 -RRB- was an English : poet , : playwright , and actor , widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world 's pre-eminent dramatist . He is often called England 's national poet , and the `` Bard of Avon '' . His extant works , including collaborations , consist of approximately 38 plays , 154 sonnets , two long narrative poems , and a few other verses , some of uncertain authorship . His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright .   Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon , Warwickshire . At the age of 18 , he married Anne Hathaway , with whom he had three children : Susanna , and twins Hamnet and Judith . Sometime between 1585 and 1592 , he began a successful career in London as an actor , writer , and part-owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain 's Men , later known as the King 's Men . He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613 , at age 49 , where he died three years later . Few records of Shakespeare 's private life survive , which has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance , sexuality , and religious beliefs and whether the works attributed to him were written by others .   Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613 . His early plays were primarily comedies and histories , which are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres . He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608 , including Hamlet , Othello , King Lear , and Macbeth , considered some of the finest works in the English language . In his last phase , he wrote tragicomedies , also known as romances , and collaborated with other playwrights .   Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime . In 1623 , however , John Heminges and Henry Condell , two friends and fellow actors of Shakespeare , published a more definitive text known as the First Folio , a posthumous collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare 's . It was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson , in which Shakespeare is hailed , presciently , as `` not of an age , but for all time '' .   In the 20th and 21st centuries , his works have been repeatedly adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance . His plays remain highly popular and are constantly studied , performed , and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world .