English Actor. He is remembered for building the renown Globe Theatre, along with his older brother Cuthbert Burbage. Born on January 6, 1567, reportedly at Stratford-on-Avon, England, his father was also an accomplished actor and built the first permanent theater in England since Roman times, known simply as The Theatre. By his early 20s he had become a popular actor. He was most famously the star of William Shakespeare’s theatre company, called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men which became the King’s Men on the ascension of English King James I in 1603. He played the title role in the first performances of many of Shakespeare’s plays, including “Hamlet,” “Othello,” “Richard III,” and “King Lear.” He was in great demand and also appeared in the plays of many of the great contemporary writers, such as Ben Jonson (the title role in “Volpone,” and “Subtle in The Alchemist”), John Marston (“The Malcontent”), John Webster (“The Duchess of Malfi”) and Beaumont and Fletcher (“The Maid’s Tragedy”). After the death of their father in February 1597, he and his brother stepped in to rescue the family’s interests in two London theatres which were tied up in lawsuits. The Blackfriars Theatre they kept but leased to lawyer and impresario Henry Evans, who used it for a troupe of child actors. The other, called simply The Theatre, was dismantled when they could not resolve terms for a new lease with Giles Allen, the landowner. The beams, posts, and other remnants of The Theatre were moved to a new location on the south side of the Thames River and reassembled into a new playhouse called the Globe Theatre. Income from the Blackfriars lease helped fund the move to the Globe. In 1608 the brothers ended the Blackfriars lease and moved the company’s performances to the Globe. He never retired from the stage and continued acting until his death on March 13, 1619 in London, England. In addition to being an actor, he was also an accomplished painter. The Felton portrait of Shakespeare is attributed to him, and there is a portrait of a woman, undoubtedly by him, preserved at Dulwich College, in Dulwich, southeast London. (bio by: William Bjornstad)