Lin-Manuel Miranda is a Puerto Rican-American actor, singer, songwriter, rapper, producer, and playwright. He is mostly known for his role in the creation of the musical Hamilton where he was the lyricist, composer, wrote the play and played as the main character, Alexander Hamiliton.
Born on Jan.16, 1980, he grew up in a Hispanic neighborhood in northern Manhattan. At the age of 7, he saw his first Broadway musical, Les Misérables, and he discovered his love for theater.
Miranda attended Wesleyan University where he performed in musicals and wrote his own shows and songs. This is where he wrote the first draft of his musical, In The Heights, based on a neighborhood similar to the one he grew up in.
When he graduated in 2002, he began his acting career. He also was a part of a hip-hop improv group called Freestyle Love Supreme. He finished developing In The Heights and did an off-Broadway release where it won two Drama Desk Awards. The musical had its Broadway debut in March 2008 and won four Tony Awards, a Grammy, and a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize.
In 2015, his famous musical, Hamilton, had an off-Broadway release. Hamilton won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and received a Tony Award. In July 2016, Miranda last appeared in his role in Hamilton. In 2019, he reprised the role for a brief run in Puerto Rico to benefit the Flamboyan Arts Fund, a nonprofit organization he founded after Hurricane Maria to support the arts.
He also wrote songs for Disney’s Moana and gained an Academy Award nomination for the track “How Far I’ll Go.” He played a role in Mary Poppins Returns and he also starred in a T.V. show named His Dark Materials based on Philip Pullman’s fantasy trilogy of the same name. On July 3, 2020, a film version of Hamiliton was released to Disney+. A film adaptation of In The Heights was released on June 10, 2021, with Miranda producing and playing a minor role.
— Savannah Cooks, Entertainment Editor