Did Shakespeare perform in any of his own plays?

Question: Did Shakespeare perform in any of his own plays?

Answer: We will never know for sure exactly how many roles Shakespeare played, although we do have some general information. We know that Shakespeare began his career on the stage by 1592, because there is a surviving document - a scathing deathbed attack on Shakespeare by Robert Greene.

Scholars believe that Shakespeare might have played the title role in Edward I (a play by Edward Peele) in 1593. It is also assumed that Shakespeare played many roles in a variety of his own plays, including Macbeth (King Duncan), As You Like It (Adam), Henry IV (King Henry), and Hamlet (Hamlet's Father). Nicholas Rowe, Shakespeare's first biographer, mentioned that Shakespeare's role as "the Ghost in his own Hamlet" was "the top of his performance."

The editors of the First Folio list all of the actors who had performed in Shakespeare's plays, and Shakespeare himself tops the list.