Walter Hawkesworth (c. 1573 – 1606) was an English playwright and actor, and briefly was secretary of the ambassador to Spain.
[1][2] He became known as a writer and actor of comedies; he introduced to England the Italian commedia erudita as source material.
[1][2] About Michaelmas 1605, Hawkesworth resigned his fellowship, and travelled to Spain as secretary of Sir Charles Cornwallis, who had been appointed ambassador in Madrid earlier in the year.
He was soon sent back to England on a special mission by Cornwallis, who wrote to the earl of Salisbury that Hawkesworth left him "with a body weak, and a mind not very strong".
In his will he named Edward Goldingham, who played the role of Hawkesworth's servant in Labyrinthus, as his sole heir and executor.