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Lin-Manuel Miranda was born on January 16, 1980 in New York. He was born to Puerto Rican parents. His dad was a political consultant and his mother was a psychologist. He grew up in a Hispanic neighborhood with lots of mixed cultures. -
At the age of seven, his first Broadway he attended was "Les Misérables" which made an influence on him. He also became a proficient rapper. -
During high school he became a fixture in the school's drama program and won the lead role in W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance." During high school he met Stephen Sondheim who became a mentor to him. -
Miranda major in theater studies at Wesleyan University, where he continued to perform in musicals and to write his own songs and shows. It was there that he started writing his first draft of the musical "In the Heights."
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The Columbine shooting on April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, occurred when two teens went on a shooting spree, killing 13 people and wounding more than 20 others, before turning their guns on themselves and committing suicide. -
On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. -
He graduated from Wesleyan with his B.A. in 2002 and after graduation, he worked as a high school English teacher for a time. -
Miranda and Anthony Veneziale started an improvisational hip-hop comedy musical group and attended festivals around New York City and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. -
Miranda worked on television and films throughout his career. He made small appearances on the series The Sopranos, Sesame Street, and The Electric Company, Moana, and Mary Poppins Returns.
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In the production and with Miranda starring, the musical blended hip-hop and salsa and book and screenplay by Quiara Alegria Hudes, "In the Heights" had its Broadway debut in March 2008 and won 4 Tony Awards, including best musical and original score. It was also nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for drama and its original cast recording won the 2008 Grammy Award for best musical show album. -
He contributed new songs to the revival of Stephen Schwartz' Working and Spanish
translations for the 2009 Broadway Revival of West Side Story -
Miranda married lawyer and MIT graduate Vanessa Nadal. -
Miranda co-wrote with Tom Kitt and co-lyricist with Amanda Green of Broadway’s Bring it On: The Musical. It received two Tony nominations for Best Musical and Best Choreography. -
Miranda and Vanessa's first son Sebastian was born on November 2014. His son Sebastian was named after the lobster in The Little Mermaid, one of his favorite films. -
His theatrical achievements in 2014 included an Emmy Award for the song "Bigger!", which he and Kitt co-wrote for the opening number at the 67th Tony Awards. -
Upon reading Ron Chernow’s 2004 biography about Alexander Hamilton, Miranda began creating a musical about the Founding Father. Hamilton was energetic and entertainment, and it featured a racially diverse cast. In January 2015 the musical opened Off-Broadway at New York City’s Public Theater, where its huge success led to an early move to Broadway in July. -
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 Portrait of A
Nation Prize. -
In 2016 Hamilton was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and that year it received an unprecedented 16 Tony nominations, including best actor in a leading role in a musical. The production eventually won 11 Tonys, falling one short of the record. Hamilton was named best musical, and Miranda won for best book and best original score. -
Miranda won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music for the Original London production of In the Heights. -
After composing the lyrics and music for "How Far I'll Go," for the animated film Moana. The track was nominated for an Oscar and won a Grammy Award. -
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. -
His second child, Francisco was born February 2018. His son is listed as a production baby in the credits for Vivo. -
Miranda garnered the award for outstanding achievement in music. As one of the creators of Hamilton, he received a special Kennedy Center Honor in 2018 for developing a groundbreaking work that defies category. -
The London production of Hamilton went on to win 7 Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical and
Outstanding Achievement in Music for Mr. Miranda and orchestrator Alex Lacamoire. -
In honor of the historic 2019 run of Hamilton in Puerto Rico, the Miranda family and the Flamboyan Foundation partnered to create the Flamboyan Arts Fund founded after Hurricane Maria (2017) to ensure support for the arts. -
Coronavirus disease is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome. The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.The disease quickly spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. -
A film adaptation of the musical "In the Heights" with
songs by Miranda and screenplay by Quiara Alegría Hudes was released in 2021. Miranda played a small role. -
Miranda wrote “Dos Oruguitas” for the film Encanto and the song earned Miranda another Oscar for Best Animated Feature. -
Miranda and his family now reside in New York. Miranda is set to be adapting a musical loosely inspired by Martin Scorsese's beloved 1977 movie musical “New York, New York” for Broadway.