By the age of 17, he started playing in Shakespearean plays and other plays. At first his audiences didn't like him very much, but once he became more comfortable, he made them laugh, become hypnotized, cry, and just all around fall in love with him. He was described many times as a handsome, muscular, perfect man. By the 1850s he was making about $20,000, which is the equivalent to about $532,000 today!!! On May 12, 1861, he was remarked as "
the most promising young actor on the American stage." Every day, Booth received fan mail from obsessed and intoxicated women.