The Greatest Americans To Star In Shakespeare

William Shakespeare's work is almost universal. His prose has been quoted countless times throughout history and has entered the lexicon of everyday life—but what about the people who star in plays like Hamlet or A Midsummer Night's Dream? Many Americans have had starring roles in some of Shakespeare's greatest works. Let's go over some of the greats and what they starred in.

James Hewlett 

Alongside Ira Aldridge, James Hewlett was another African-American Shakespearean legend. Co-creator of the African Grove Theater in the early 19th century in New York, and best-known for performing Richard III as the titular character, Hewlett is thought to have visited the United Kingdom regularly and performed in Liverpool's theaters.

Houghton Library, Wikimedia Commons

William Baggot

William Baggott began his career in theater in the early 19th century as part of the Lieber and Company theater production company in New York. He spent his theatrical career touring throughout the United States. He began a film career in 1909 and enjoyed much success—as America's first publicized leading actor. At one point, he was the most photographed man in the world.

University of Washington, Wikimedia Commons

Edwin Booth

Considered the greatest American actor of the 19th century, Booth's earliest stage acting roles came in Richard III, alongside his father Junius Brutus Booth. Edwin Booth founded Booth's Theater in New York in 1869. If his name seems familiar, that's because he is the older brother of John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.

Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons

James Carpenter

James Carpenter is a currently-performing stage actor with the California Shakespeare Theater in Orinda, California. He's starred in productions of Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, Romeo And Juliet and has played the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol for the last seven years in a row.  In 2010, he received the prestigious Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship, an award given to some of America's best theater actors.

San Francisco Chronicle, Getty Images

David Costabile

While most famous for his roles on TV in Billions (2016), Breaking Bad (2008), The Wire (2002), and Suits (2008), he began his acting career on Broadway, appearing in the Manhattan Theater Club's production of Titanic: A Musical (2007), and in the Shakespearean comedy, The Two Gentlemen Of Verona.

DFree, Shutterstock

James Earl Jones

One of the greatest actors of his generation, the late James Earl Jones starred in myriad performances across his nearly 70-year acting career. On-stage, Jones starred in many Shakespeare In The Park productions, beginning as the Prince of Morocco in The Merchant Of Venice in 1962, before spending the next 10 years starring in Othello, Coriolanus, Hamlet, and King Lear as the titular character.

Featureflash Photo Agency, Shutterstock 

Keith David

Another actor known for his deep voice is Keith David—who, while not quite of the octave level of James Earl Jones, was still able to cut his teeth on Shakespeare. Although he made his screen-acting debut in 1982 in The Thing, he would have to wait until 1986 to get roles in Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet (as Capulet), Hamlet, and Macbeth.

Kathy Hutchins, Shutterstock

Morgan Freeman

One of America's most iconic voices, Morgan Freeman began his career in the 1970s in the children's TV show The Electric Company (1971), but honed his skills thereafter on-stage with roles in Coriolanus and Julius Caesar in 1979—the former performance earned him an Obie Award for best performer. Despite continuing film success into the 1980s, he would return to Shakespeare in 1990, starring in the comedy The Taming of the Shrew. Freeman is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time, both on- and off-stage.

Everett Collection, Shutterstock

Charles Barnum Hanford

Charles B Hanford was an American actor born in 1859 in California. In 1882, he began with the William Stafford Company, performing Shakespeare all over New London, Connecticut. After several years, he began acting alongside Edwin Booth. He played Shakespeare throughout his career before retiring in 1914. During World War I, Hanford assisted Thomas Edison in designing camouflage patterns for troops and vehicles.

Theodore C. Marceau, Wikimedia Commons  

Ethan Hawke

You might not think of Ethan Hawke as a stage actor, given his large body of work in the film industry, but Hawke is no stranger to the theater. He took on his first theatrical role in 1991, as a young Casanova in Casanova. In the early 2000s, he returned to the theater to play Henry Percy in Henry IV and in 2009, he played Autolycus in The Winter's Tale. In 2013, he played the titular character in Macbeth.

Featureflash Photo Agency, Shutterstock 

Stacy Keach

Stacy Keach is one of America's most decorated stage and film actors. He began his career on-stage in 1966, appearing in Macbird!, an anti-war satire. It would be nearly 30 years before Keach would star in Shakespeare—appearing in Richard III in 1991 and Macbeth in 1996 and King Lear in 2009. All three performances would earn him a Helen Hayes Award For Outstanding Actor. Keach's versatility in both film and Shakespeare make him one of the most celebrated American actors of all time.

Tony Barnard, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

John Lithgow

Known for his vast array of talent and starring in Dexter (2006), Lithgow's stage career is almost as extensive as his on-screen one! He's performed in more than two-dozen plays throughout his career, including in Shakespeare's Hamlet in 1975 (his second-ever stage performance), Twelfth Night in 2007 as Malvolio, and King Lear in 2014.

Rubenstein, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Frederick Losey

Frederick Losey was one of America's foremost Shakespearean performers and elocutionists. Professor, actor, and scholar of Shakespeare, he was famously "America's greatest interpreter of Shakespeare". But his passion for Shakespeare didn't end with interpreting the works of the great man. He was famous for his recitals of Shakespeare to students at both university and high schools, including Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, and Julius Caesar. His last performance of Shakespeare was on April 27, 1932, as he passed away on June 5, 1932.

National Park Service, Wikimedia Commons

Paul Molyneaux

Paul Molyneaux was another African-American actor who made a name for himself in the United Kingdom performing Shakespeare. Considered one of the trailblazers of Black British theater, he began by playing the titular character of Othello in 1880 in Boston, before performing in the UK in 1881. He made his British stage acting debut that year playing both Othello and Richard III. Molyneaux returned home shortly thereafter, citing the prejudice he'd faced as his reason for leaving England. His sister, Virginia Hewlett, was the wife of abolitionist Frederick Douglass Jr.

Library of Congress, Picryl 

Stephen Moorer

One of America's most famous Shakespearean actors is Stephen Moorer. Founder of the GroveMont Theater Company in 1982, he began studying theater at the age of 11 and continued until he was 17. He began at the Carmel Shakespeare Theater Festival in Richard III in 1993, then as Coriolanus in Coriolanus in 1997, and as Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream in 2000. In 2014, he appeared in Julius Caesar, and has directed over 100 productions.

Greghenderson2006, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons 

Edward Sothern

Edward Sothern, otherwise known as EH Sothern, was a prominent actor that's most famous for his acting partnership with Julia Marlowe in the early 20th century. Rising to prominence in the late 19th century with performances of Hamlet, Sothern and Marlowe began an acting partnership in Romeo And Juliet, playing the titular characters. From 1903 to 1905, the pair appeared in many Shakespeare productions. Sothern was one of the most prolific Shakespeare actors in New York City in the early 20th century until his death in 1933.

Terry Alphonse, Wikimedia Commons

Walker Whiteside

Walker Whiteside may be one of the most famous child stage actors of the late 19th century. He began his acting career at just 15, appearing in Richard III. Whiteside would appear in Othello, King Lear, Hamlet, and The Merchant Of Venice over the next two years.

Burr McIntosh, Wikimedia Commons 

Ira Aldridge

Ira Aldridge was born in New York City in 1807. Growing up in the United States, he faced discrimination and racism and eventually left the US at the age of just 17 to pursue an acting career in England. He played the title role in Othello and played in many performances of Richard III—as King Richard—and as Shylock in The Merchant Of Venice. Aldridge was so successful that he became the first African-American to manage a British theater and is the only African-American with a bronze memorial plaque at the Shakespeare Memorial Theater.

James Northcote, Wikimedia Commons