Thomas Pope (16th-century actor)

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Thomas Pope (died 1603) was an Elizabethan actor, a member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men and a colleague of William Shakespeare. Pope was a comedian and acrobat.

Nothing is known of Pope's early life. He was one of the English players who toured Denmark and Saxony in 1586-7, along with George Bryan, another future Chamberlain's man. He was in the production of The Seven Deadly Sins ca. 1591, with Bryan and Augustine Phillips—a production of the Lord Strange's Men. Pope toured with Lord Strange's Men under Edward Alleyn in 1593. He was most likely an original member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men at their formation (or re-formation) in 1594, along with Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, and others.

Pope was in the cast of the two Ben Jonson plays acted by the company in the late 1590s, Every Man in His Humour (1598) and Every Man Out of His Humour (1599). In 1599 he also became one of the sharers in the new Globe Theatre, a wise financial move. He was no longer part of the company when they became the King's Men in 1603; he might have been retired by then, and in fact died in that year. Like other actors and members of his troupe (Shakespeare; Phillips), Pope lived in Southwark, near the theatres; he is thought to have remained unmarried.

Thomas Heywood mentions Pope in this Apology for Actors.