William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor whose works stand at the center of English literature and world drama. Born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564, he became a leading figure in the London theater world as a member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later the King's Men. His plays range across comedy, tragedy, history, romance, and problem play, combining theatrical force with unmatched command of language, character, conflict, and human motive.Shakespeare's major works include Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, and As You Like It. His comedies often use disguise, mistaken identity, social reversal, and verbal play to test love and expose folly. In As You Like It, he gives Rosalind one of his most intelligent and theatrically powerful comic roles, placing her at the center of a play about exile, performance, love, and transformation.