About Edmund Kean
Edmund Kean (4 November 1787 – 15 May 1833) was a British Shakespearean actor, who performed, among other places, in London, Belfast, New York, Quebec, and Paris. He was known for his short stature, tumultuous personal life, and controversial divorce. == Biography == === Early life === Kean was born in Westminster, London. His father was probably Edmund Kean, an architect's clerk, and his mother was an actress, Anne Carey, daughter of the 18th-century composer and playwright Henry Carey. Kean made his first appearance on the stage at age four as Cupid in Jean-Georges Noverre's ballet of "Cymon." As a child, his vivacity, cleverness and ready affection made him a universal favourite, but his harsh circumstances and lack of discipline fostered self-reliance and wayward tendencies. About 1794 a few benevolent persons paid for him to go to school, where he did well; finding the restraint intolerable, however, he went to sea as a cabin boy at Portsmouth. Finding life at sea even more restricting, however, he pretended to be both deaf and lame so skillfully that he deceived the doctors at Madeira. On his return to England, he sought the protection of his uncle, Moses Kean, a mimic, ventriloquist and general entertainer who, besides continuing his pantomimic studies, introduced him to the study of Shakespeare. At the same time, Charlotte Tidswell, an actress who had been especially kind to him from infancy, taught him the principles of acting. On the death of his uncle, she took charge of him, and he began the systematic study of the principal Shakespearean characters, displaying the peculiar originality of his genius with interpretations entirely different from those of John Philip Kemble, then considered the great exponent of these roles.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.