List of Shakespeare authorship candidates

[5] Shakespeare's pre-eminence seemed incongruous with his humble origins and obscure life, arousing suspicion that he was not the author of the works attributed to him.

[8] Promoters of various authorship theories assert that their particular candidate is more plausible in terms of education, life experience, and/or social status to be the true author of the Shakespeare canon.

Proponents argue that the documented life of William Shakespeare lacks the education, aristocratic sensibility, or familiarity with the royal court which they say is apparent in the works.

[12] Despite the scholarly consensus,[13] a relatively small but highly visible and diverse assortment of supporters, including some prominent public figures,[14] are confident that someone other than William Shakespeare wrote the works attributed to him.

This list of 88 candidates is in alphabetical order of surname, so that aristocrats appear under their family name, rather than their title (e.g. "De Vere, Edward" rather than "Oxford, Earl of").

The First Folio (1623), published seven years after Shakespeare's death, includes all of his extant plays with the exception of Pericles, Prince of Tyre and The Two Noble Kinsmen .
Rhys Ifans played Edward de Vere in the 2011 film Anonymous
Encounter with authorship candidates in a dream. Left to right: William Shakespeare , Anne Hathaway , Christopher Marlowe and Sheik Zubayr . The Dreaming: Waking Hours (2020)