Kean starting acting at the age of four, as a Cupid in Jean-Georges Noverre’s ballet of "Cymon". As a child, his cheerfulness made him a universal favourite, but his background and lack of discipline, helped him develop independence and stubborn habits. In 1794, a few kind-hearted people paid for his school fees. Even though he did well in school, he found it unbearable. As such, he decided to work as a cabin boy at Portsmouth. Finding life at sea even more limiting, he pretended to be deaf and lame so skilfully that he managed to trick the doctors at Madeira.