Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda is an award-winning songwriter, actor, director and producer. He is the creator and original star of Broadway’s Tony-winning musicals, Hamilton and In the Heights. Hamilton - with book, music and lyrics by Mr. Miranda, in addition to him originating the title role - was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Drama and earned a record-breaking 16 Tony Nominations, winning 11 Tony Awards including two personally for Mr. Miranda for Book and Score of a Musical. The Original Broadway Cast Recording of Hamilton won the 2016 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. Both Mr. Miranda and Hamilton won the 2016 Drama League Awards for Distinguished Performance and Outstanding Production of a Musical, respectively. Miranda, Thomas Kail, Andy Blankenbuehler and Alex Lacamoire were awarded a 2018 Kennedy Center Honors for their collaborative achievement in Hamilton and its continued artist impact.

For its sold-out Off-Broadway run at The Public Theater, Hamilton received a record-breaking 10 Lortel Awards, 3 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 8 Drama Desk Awards, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best New Musical, and an OBIE for Best New American Play. Material from the show was previewed at the White House during its first-ever Evening of Poetry & Spoken Word in 2009, Lincoln Center Theater’s 2012 American Songbook Series and New York Stage and Film’s 2013 Powerhouse Theater Season at Vassar College. The Chicago production of Hamilton opened in October 2016, with a 1st National Tour and London production both opening in 2017. A second national tour launched in 2018, with a third national tour premiering in 2019. The London production of Hamilton went on to win 7 Olivier Awards in 2018, including Best New Musical and Outstanding Achievement in Music for Mr. Miranda and orchestrator Alex Lacamoire. The Hamilton Mixtape, a concept album inspired by the show’s score, was released on Dec. 2, 2016. Miranda received a 2017 MTV VMA Award in the "Best Fight Against The System" category for the video "Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)" off The Hamilton Mixtape.

In 2020, a film of the 2015 Broadway company of Hamilton was released on Disney+. The film received 12 Emmy Nominations in 2021, winning 4 awards, including Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded). The film also won the 2020 People’s Choice award for Best Drama Movie (as well as Best Drama Movie Actor for Miranda), the 2021 Critics Choice Award for Best Television Movie and the AFI Special Award from the 2021 American Film Institute Awards. In 2022, the first official foreign language stage production of Hamilton was produced in Hamburg, Germany, followed in 2023 by the release of Hamilton: The German EP from Atlantic Records.

Mr. Miranda’s In the Heights (originally conceived by Miranda, with book by Quiara Alegría Hudes, and direction by Thomas Kail), received four 2008 Tony Awards with Miranda receiving a Tony Award for Best Score, as well as a nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. In the Heights also took home a 2009 Grammy Award for its Original Broadway Cast Album and was recognized as a Finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. In 2016, Miranda won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music for the Original London production of In the Heights. Off-Broadway, In the Heights received a Drama Desk award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance, the Lucille Lortel Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical and Mr. Miranda received an Obie Award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics. The film adaptation of In The Heights, with songs by Miranda and screenplay by Quiara Alegría Hudes, was released by Warner Brothers in 2021. The original motion picture soundtrack was released by Atlantic Records, receiving a 2022 Grammy nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.

Mr. Miranda has provided additional lyrics for the new Broadway musical New York, New York featuring songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb (6 Drama Desk noms, 12 Outer Critics Circle Award noms, including Best Score for Mr. Kander and Mr. Miranda, 9 Tony noms, including Best Musical, winner for Scenic Design of a Musical). He is the co-composer (with Tom Kitt), and colyricist (with Amanda Green) of Broadway’s Bring it On: The Musical (2013 Tony Nom., Best Musical, 2013 Drama Desk Nom., Best Lyrics). He contributed new songs to the revival of Stephen Schwartz' Working and Spanish translations for the 2009 Broadway Revival of West Side Story. In 2014, Mr. Miranda received an Emmy Award with Tom Kitt for their song, “Bigger” from the 67th Annual Tony Awards. Mr. Miranda sings the theme song to the Netflix series, The Magic School Bus Rides Again and co-wrote (with Bill Sherman) the theme song to the PBS Kids series, Alma’s Way. He collaborated with J.J. Abrams on the songs, "Dobra Doompa" for Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, and “Lido Hey” for Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. Mr. Miranda contributed music, lyrics and vocals to several songs in Disney’s feature film Moana which earned him a 2017 Oscar nomination and a 2018 Grammy Award for the original song, “How Far I’ll Go.” Mr. Miranda worked with composer Alan Menken on new songs and new lyrics for Disney’s 2023 live-action musical film, The Little Mermaid.

Mr. Miranda wrote eight original songs for Disney’s Academy Award-winning animated feature, Encanto. The Encanto soundtrack spent nine nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. All eight of Mr. Miranda’s songs from the film appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 in the same week. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” became the first No. 1 song on Billboard’s Hot 100 to be released by Walt Disney Records. With five weeks at No. 1, “Bruno” now holds the record for most weeks at the top of the charts for any song from a Disney film (animated or live-action). For his song, “Dos Oruguitas,” Mr. Miranda received a 2022 Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. Encanto won three 2023 Grammys, including Best Score Soundtrack for Germaine Franco, and Best Compilation Soundtrack and Best Song Written For Visual Media for Mr. Miranda.

Mr. Miranda made his film directorial debut with tick, tick… BOOM!. The film, which Mr. Miranda also produced, received two 2022 Academy Award nominations (Best Actor - Andrew Garfield, Best Editing - Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum). Among other awards and nominations, tick, tick… BOOM! was selected as one of the Top 10 Films of 2021 by the American Film Institute and received three awards from the Hollywood Critics Association (Best Musical or Comedy, Best Actor - Andrew Garfield, First Time Feature - Mr. Miranda). Mr. Miranda was also named Best Director by the Detroit Film Critics Association, received a Directors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Directing - First Time Feature Film, and a Producers Guild Award nomination for Best Theatrical Feature. The tick, tick… BOOM! soundtrack was released on November 12, 2021 by Masterworks Broadway.

Mr. Miranda founded 5000 Broadway Productions, a company committed to uplifting diverse and underrepresented voices both in front of and behind the camera, in addition to making the world of theater more accessible to the masses. The team, led by Miranda and overseen by director of development Owen Panettieri, produced Miranda’s film directorial debut tick, tick…BOOM! for Netflix. Other recent critically-acclaimed projects include the 2021 release of Warner Bros. In the Heights, the multiple Emmy Award-winning filmed production of Hamilton for Disney+, and the multiple Emmy Award-winning limited series Fosse/Verdon. Upcoming projects include the feature film release of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, which had its world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and will receive a nationwide theatrical release through Blue Fox Entertainment in 2023.

Mr. Miranda is a recipient of the 2015 MacArthur Foundation Award, the National Arts Club Medal of Honor, the ASCAP Foundation's Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award and the 2019 Portrait of A Nation Prize. He has received stars on both the Puerto Rico Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He serves as a Council Member of The Dramatists Guild, a Board Member of the Dramatist Guild Foundation and was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio to New York City’s Theater Subdistrict Council in 2015.

Mr. Miranda, and The Miranda Family, are active supporters of initiatives that increase the representation of people of color throughout the arts and government, ensure access to women’s reproductive health, and promote resilience in Puerto Rico.

On July 8, 2016, Mr. Miranda and Jennifer Lopez released the charity single, “Love Make The World Go Round” as a tribute to the victims of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting. He has continued to respond to tragedy with music, teaming with composers Benj Pasek & Justin Paul and Tony Winner Ben Platt for "Found/Tonight" supporting the March For Our Lives Initiative.

Mr. Miranda has actively supported the relief efforts in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria in September 2017, creating the benefit single, “Almost Like Praying” as well as releasing its Salsa Remix, benefitting the Hispanic Federation's UNIDOS Disaster Relief and Recovery Program. In honor of the historic 2019 run of Hamilton in Puerto Rico, the Miranda family, the producers of Hamilton, and the Flamboyan Foundation partnered to create the Flamboyan Arts Fund, raising $15 million for arts and culture on the island.

Mr. Miranda is a co-founder and member of Freestyle Love Supreme, a hip-hop improv group that has toured the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, as well as the Aspen, Melbourne and Montreal Comedy Festivals. The group created a limited television series for Pivot in 2014 and made its Broadway debut in a self-titled show in 2019, with the production receiving a Special 2020 Tony Award, before launching a national tour in 2022. A feature-length documentary film about the group, We Are Freestyle Love Supreme, was released on Hulu in 2020 and received a 2021 Grammy nomination for Best Music Film. Mr. Miranda was a Guest Performer with Freestyle Love Supreme during their 2022-2023 Las Vegas residency at The Venetian Resort.

Mr. Miranda is a New York Times bestselling author with his books Hamilton: The Revolution (with Jeremy McCarter), Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You (featuring illustrations by Jonny Sun) and In The Heights: Finding Home (with Quiara Alegria Hudes and Jeremy McCarter). Mr. Miranda has lent his voice to the audiobook recordings of Gmorning, Gnight!, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, and both Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Saen (2022 Audie Award Winner - Best Male Narrator; 2023 Grammy Nomination - Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording).

Mr. Miranda directed, co-wrote and appeared in the 2008 tongue-in-cheek web-series Legally Brown: The Search for the Next Piragua Guy, inspired by the MTV series, Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search for the Next Elle Woods. Mr. Miranda played Charlie Kringas in the 2012 City Center Encores! production of Merrily We Roll Along and can be heard on the 2012 Cast Recording released by PS Classics. He also appeared in the 2014 City Center Encores! Off-Center production of tick, tick… BOOM! as Jonathan. In 2019, Miranda starred as King Arthur in a benefit concert performance of Camelot for Lincoln Center Theater. He appeared as the Narrator in his one-act musical, “21 Chump Street” as part of This American Life: One Night Only at BAM on June 7th, 2014.

Mr. Miranda’s TV/Film credits include: Hamilton (2021 Emmy Award, Outstanding Variety Special Pre-Recorded, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie nomination), His Dark Materials, We The People, Fosse/Verdon (2019 Emmy nomination, Outstanding Limited Series), Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Curb Your Enthusiasm (2018 Emmy nomination, Guest Actor), Saturday Night Live (2017 Emmy nomination, Guest Actor), Jam Van, The Electric Company, Sesame Street (2014 Emmy Nomination, Outstanding Original Song), The Sopranos, House, Modern Family, Polar Bears, Do No Harm, Smash, How I Met Your Mother, Freestyle Love Supreme, Inside Amy Schumer, Bartlett, Difficult People, Billy on the Street, Hamilton’s America, Drunk History, Bluey, DuckTales, Nina’s World, BoJack Horseman, One Day At A Time, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, 200 Cartas, Speech and Debate, Moana (2017 Oscar nomination, Grammy Award for Best Original Song), Mary Poppins Returns, Siempre Luis, We Are Freestyle Love Supreme, Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), The Little Mermaid (2023), In The Heights (2022 Grammy nomination, Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media), Vivo, tick, tick… BOOM!, and Encanto (2022 Oscar nomination, Best Original Song, two 2023 Grammy Awards for Best Compilation Soundtrack and Best Song Written For Visual Media). Mr. Miranda received his B.A. from Wesleyan University in 2002. He lives with his family in New York.