Origins & Early Life

William Kempe (c. 1560 – c. 1603), commonly referred to as Will Kemp, was an English actor and dancer who specialised in comic roles. He was best known as one of the original stage actors in early dramas by William Shakespeare, and roles associated with his name may have included the comic creation Falstaff.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

His contemporaries considered him to be a successor to the great clown of the previous generation, Richard Tarlton. Kempe's success and influence was such that in December 1598 he was one of a core of five actor-shareholders in the Lord Chamberlain's Men, alongside Shakespeare and Richard Burbage. He left the company shortly afterwards, and despite his fame as a performer and his intention to continue his career, he appears to have died unregarded and in poverty circa 1603. Kempe is usually given an approximate birth year of 1560. He first entered the historical record as a performer with Leicester's Men at Leicester House in May 1585 and continued in this service after Leicester's departure for the Low Countries to take part in the Eighty Years' War.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

Leicester's nephew, Philip Sidney, sent letters home by way of a man he called "Will, my Lord of Lester's jesting player...

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