William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. He married Anne Hathaway in 1582 when he was 18 and she was 26. They had three children together, including twins Hamnet and Judith. Shakespeare wrote some of the most famous plays in English literature, including Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, King Lear and Hamlet. He influenced both English literature and language as well as present-day movies and philosophy. Shakespeare died in 1616 in Stratford-upon-Avon.