Biography
Lin-Manuel Miranda (born January 16, 1980 in New York, NY) is an American actor, singer, songwriter, rapper, director, producer & playwright, best known for creating and starring in the Broadway musicals In the Heights & Hamilton.
Miranda wrote the music and lyrics for the musical In the Heights, which opened on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in March 2008. Miranda's written work for the show earned him numerous accolades, including the 2008 Tony Award for Best Original Score and the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Further, Miranda's performance in the show's lead role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
From August 6th 2015 to July 9th 2016, Miranda performed on Broadway in the lead role as Alexander Hamilton in Hamilton, a musical for which he wrote the book, music and lyrics—and which earned the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
Miranda played his last performance in Hamilton on July 9, 2016, and the role of Alexander Hamilton was taken over by previous alternate Javier Muñoz. Miranda vowed to return to the show in the near future. In fact, he recently reprised his role as Alexander Hamilton in a special 23 performance three-week run in Puerto Rico January 11-27, 2019.
Lin-Manuel was born in New York City of Puerto Rican descent. He attended Hunter College High School and Wesleyan University. He founded a hip-hop theatre troupe called "Freestyle Love Supreme". Miranda also wrote, directed, and acted in an independent film called Clayton's Friends (1996). In 2007, Miranda made an appearance on an episode of television series The Sopranos. Lin-Manuel has also worked as an English teacher at his old high school, written for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant reviewer, and composed for commercials. In 2008, Lin-Manuel was invited by composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical "Working" which opened in May at the Asolo Repertory Theater in Sarasota, FL.
Miranda received his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame November 30th 2018.
His awards include 3 Tony Awards, 5 Grammy Awards, 2 Laurence Olivier Awards, 2 Primetime Emmy Awards. an Annie Award, a MacArthur Fellowship Award, a Kennedy Centre Honor and a Pulitzer Prize
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