Molière

Real name Jean Baptiste Poquelin, a French playwright, theatre manager and actor, born in Paris as the oldest son of a well-to-do upholsterer. Poquelin senior crowned his social advancement according to the custom of the time by buying a lucrative and little onerous position as royal purveyor to Louis XIII and arranged for it to be inherited by his firstborn. Jean Baptiste's mother, Marie Cressé, the daughter of one of his father's colleagues, died when he was ten years old. She came from a family with much interest in theatre, and it has been assumed that it was his grandfather Cressé who initiated him into the world of theatre. Probably, the boy was also influenced early on by the market jesters in the lively area around Les Halles, where the Poquelins were living.