Lin-Manuel Miranda

Born in 1980 in New York City, Lin-Manuel Miranda developed a devotion to musical theater and hip-hop before attending Wesleyan University. He wrote and starred in the Tony-winning 2008 musical In the Heights before working on additional Broadway productions and making screen appearances. Inspired by reading Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton, Miranda eventually developed the musical Hamilton, a groundbreaking work that tells the story of the U.S.Founding Father with hip-hop/R&B musical forms and a black and Latino cast. With Miranda in the titular role, the production was a phenomenal success commercially and critically, winning the Pulitzer Prize and 11 Tony Awards in 2016. Miranda also scored a Grammy Award and an Oscar nomination for composing the song "How Far I'll Go" from the 2016 animated film Moana.