- William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright now widely regarded as the greatest writer of the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. His surviving works include at least 38 plays, two long narrative poems and 154 sonnets, as well as a variety of other poems. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard"). Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, and at 18 married Anne Hathaway, … - Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart OBE (born July 13, 1940) is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated English film, television and stage actor. He is also Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield. Stewart has had a distinguished career in theatre for nearly fifty years, including performances as various characters in Shakespearean productions. However, he is most famous for his roles as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S Enterprise in "Star Trek: The Next Generation", … - Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM (22 May 1907 - 11 July 1989) was an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and four-time Emmy winning English actor, director, and producer. Olivier's Academy acknowledgments are considerable—fourteen Oscar nominations, with two wins for Best Actor and Best Picture for the 1948 film "Hamlet", and two honorary awards including a statuette and certificate. He was also awarded five Emmy awards from the nine nominations he received. - Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, KBE (born May 25, 1939) is a veteran English stage and screen actor, the recipient of a Tony Award and two Oscar nominations. McKellen is best known to moviegoers in recent years for his roles as Gandalf in the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy and as Magneto in the "X-Men" trilogy. His work has spanned genres from serious Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. - Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh (born December 10 1960) is an Emmy Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated Northern Irish-born actor and film director. - John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH (14 April, 1904 - 21 May 2000), known as Sir John Gielgud, was an Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Academy Award-winning theatre and film actor. He is generally regarded as one of the great English actors in history. - John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth Barrymore (February 15 1882 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - May 29 1942 in Los Angeles, California), was an American actor. He gained fame as a stage actor, lauded for his portrayals of Hamlet and Richard III, and is frequently called the greatest actor of his generation. He was the brother of Lionel Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore, and the grandfather of Drew Barrymore. - Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 - October 10, 1985) was an Academy Award-winning American screenwriter, a radio, film and theatre director, a radio and film producer and an actor in film and theatre, as well as a Grammy Award-winning radio personality. Welles first gained wide notoriety for his October 30, 1938 radio broadcast of H. G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds". Adapted to sound like a contemporary news broadcast, … - Edwin Booth
Edwin Thomas Booth (November 13, 1833 - June 7, 1893), was a famous 19th century American actor. He was born near Bel Air, Maryland into the British-American theatrical Booth family. Some theatre historians call him the greatest American actor and Hamlet of the 19th century. - Richard Burton
Richard Burton CBE (November 10 1925 - August 5 1984) was a Welsh actor. He was at one time the highest-paid actor in Hollywood.. Known for his distinctive voice, he was nominated seven times for Academy Awards for acting, yet never won. - Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE (born 22 October, 1938) is an English actor and director, knighted in 1994 for his services to the theatre. Like Laurence Olivier, he bears the distinction of holding two knighthoods, Danish and British. - Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA, (born 9 December 1934), usually known as Dame Judi Dench, is an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Tony, three-time BAFTA, and six-time Laurence Olivier Award-winning English actress. In Britain, Dench has developed a reputation as one of the greatest actresses of the post-war period, primarily through her work in theatre, which has been her main forte throughout her career. - Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an Academy Award- and Tony Award-winning American stage and film actor. - Paul Scofield
David Paul Scofield, CH, CBE (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was an award-winning English actor of stage and screen. Noted for his distinctive voice and delivery, Scofield won both an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for his role as Sir Thomas More in the 1966 film A Man for All Seasons; he had previously originated the role in the stage version both in the West End and on Broadway, winning a Tony Award. - Ira Aldridge
Ira Frederick Aldridge was an American stage actor who made his career largely on the London stage. He is the only actor of African American descent among the 33 actors of the English stage with bronze plaques at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. - James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones (b. January 17, 1931) is an American Emmy- and Tony Award-winning actor of film and stage, well known for his deep baritone voice. - Henry Irving
John Henry Brodribb, knighted in 1895, as Sir Henry Irving, was one of the most famous stage actors of the Victorian era. - Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer, CC (born December 13, 1929) is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. In a career that spans over five decades and includes substantial roles in film, television, and theater, Plummer is perhaps best known for the iconic role of Captain Von Trapp in "The Sound of Music". - Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus O'Toole (Peter James O'Toole) (b. August 2 1932 (accepted but presumed date) is an eight-time Academy Award-nominated Irish actor. He has received three Golden Globes and an Emmy Award. He was also awarded an honorary Oscar for his body of work (2003). Despite eight nominations, he has yet to win a Best Actor Oscar. - Mark Rylance
Mark Rylance is an internationally well-known actor and theatre director. His various film roles include Ferdinand in "Prospero's Books" (after a play by William Shakespeare), Jay in "Intimacy" (after a novel by Hanif Kureishi) and Jakob van Gunten in "Institute Benjamenta" (after a novel by Robert Walser (writer)), where he worked with directors like Peter Greenaway, Patrice Chéreau and the Brothers Quay. - David Garrick
David Garrick (19 February 1717 - 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson. Amateur theatricals comprised his first work on the stage, however, it was not until his appearance in the title role of Shakespeare's "Richard III" that audiences and managers began to take notice. - Edmund Kean
Edmund Kean was an English actor, regarded in his time as the greatest ever. For many years he lived at Keydell House, Horndean. Kean was born in London, his father was probably Edmund Kean, an architect’s clerk; and his mother was an actress, Anne Carey, daughter of the 18th century composer and playwright Henry Carey. Kean made his first appearance on the stage, aged four, as Cupid in Jean-Georges Noverre’s ballet of "Cymon". - Maurice Evans
Maurice Evans (born June 3, 1901 in Dorset; died March 12, 1989 in East Sussex) was an English-born actor who became a US citizen in 1941. He first appeared on the stage in 1926 and joined the Old Vic Company in 1934, playing Hamlet, Richard II and Iago. His first appearance on Broadway was in "Romeo and Juliet" opposite Katharine Cornell in 1936, but he made his biggest impact in Shakespeare's "Richard II", … - Paul Robeson
Paul LeRoy Bustill Robeson (April 9, 1898 - January 23, 1976) was a multi-lingual American actor, athlete, bass-baritone concert singer, writer, civil rights activist, Communist sympathizer, Spingarn Medal winner, and Stalin Peace Prize laureate. - Richard Burbage
Richard Burbage (July 7, 1568 - March 13 1619) was an actor and theatre owner. He was the younger brother of Cuthbert Burbage. Burbage came from a poor family and was a popular actor by his early 20s. His early acting career is poorly documented. It has been suggested that it included a stint in the Earl of Leicester's company, but there is no good evidence for this. He probably was acting with the Admiral's Men in 1590, with Lord Strange's Men in 1592, … - Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier (November 5 1913 - July 8 1967) was an English actress. She won two Academy Awards for playing "southern belles": Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind" (1939) and Blanche DuBois in "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951), a role she had also played in London's West End. She was a prolific stage performer, frequently in collaboration with her husband, Laurence Olivier, who directed her in several of her roles. - Ralph Richardson
Sir Ralph David Richardson (19 December 1902 - 10 October 1983) was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, did their best to make the transition to film. - Ellen Terry
Dame Ellen Terry, GBE (February 27 1848 - July 21 1928) was an English stage actress. Born into a theatrical family, Terry played her first role opposite Charles Kean at London's Princess' Theatre at the age of eight. She continued acting and entered the company at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in 1861. - Edwin Forrest
Edwin Forrest (March 9, 1806 - December 12, 1872), American actor, was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania of Scottish and German descent and was an unusual actor. - Michael Redgrave
Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave CBE (March 20, 1908—March 21, 1985) was an English actor of great renown. Redgrave was born in Bristol, the son of the silent film actor Roy Redgrave and the actress Margaret Scudamore. He never knew his father, who left when Michael was only six months old, to pursue a career in Australia. His mother remarried Captain James Anderson, a wealthy tea planter, but he hated his step-father. - Donald Wolfit
Donald Wolfit was an English actor-manager, knighted in 1957 for his services to the theatre. Wolfit was born in Newark, Nottinghamshire, and attended the Magnus Grammar School (now Magnus Church of England School) and made his stage début in 1920. He first appeared in the West End in 1924, playing "The Wandering Jew" but had limited success afterwards, … - William Charles MacReady
William Charles Macready (March 3, 1793 - April 27, 1873), English actor, was born in London, and educated at Rugby. It was his intention to go up to Oxford, but in 1809 the embarrassed affairs of his father, the lessee of several provincial theatres, called him to share the responsibilities of theatrical management. On June 7, 1810 he made a successful first appearance as Romeo at Birmingham. - Sir Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE, (born December 31, 1943) is a British actor. Kingsley is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi in Richard Attenborough's 1982 biopic, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor. - Simon Russell Beale
Simon Russell Beale CBE (born January 12, 1961) is an award-winning British actor. Russell Beale's stocky frame and soft speaking style are essential elements of his stage persona. His performances have been lauded for their subtlety, wit, intelligence and emotional power. - John Wood
John Wood, CBE, (born January 1, 1930) is an English actor. Wood was born in Derbyshire. Known as a stage actor, he has played extensively in Shakespeare, having joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1970s. He has also appeared in many of Tom Stoppard's plays; he won a Tony Award in 1976 for the role of Henry Carr in Stoppard's "Travesties", … - Antony Sher
Sir Antony Sher KBE (born 14 June 1949) is a British actor, novelist and painter. - Anthony Quayle
Sir John Anthony Quayle, CBE (7 September 1913 - 20 October 1989) was an English actor and director. He was born in Ainsdale, Southport in Lancashire and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. After appearing in music hall, he joined the Old Vic in 1932. During the Second World War he was an Army Officer and made one of the area commanders of the auxiliary units. - Walter Hampden
Walter Hampden is the artist name of Walter Hampden Dougherty (born June 30, 1879 in Brooklyn; died June 11, 1955 in Los Angeles) was a U.S. actor and theatre manager. He went to England for apprenticeship for six years. Later, he played Hamlet, Henry V and Cyrano de Bergerac on Broadway. In 1925, he became manager of the Colonial Theatre on Broadway. He became noted for his Shakespearean roles as well as for Cyrano. - Edith Evans
Dame Edith Mary Evans DBE (8 February 1888-14 October 1976) was an Academy Award nominated and Golden Globe award winning actress. Born in London, the daughter of Edward Evans, a civil servant, and his wife, Caroline Ellen Foster. She was educated at St Michael's Church of England School, Pimlico, before being apprenticed at the age of 15 in 1903 as a milliner. - Peggy Ashcroft
Dame Peggy Ashcroft DBE (22 December 1907 - 14 June 1991) was an acclaimed Academy Award-winning English actress.
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