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>Lin-Manuel Miranda (born January 16, 1980) is an American composerlyricist , and a Tony Award -nominated actor. He is most famous for writing and starring in the Broadway musical In the Heights , which opened on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in 2008. and
Early life
Lin-Manuel was born in Northern Manhattan in New York City . He grew up in the Inwood section of Manhattan and is of Puerto Rican descent.[ 1]
Education
After graduating from Hunter College High School , Miranda went on to attend Wesleyan University [ 1] [ 2] and graduated in 2002. During this time, he co-founded a hip hop comedy
troupe called Freestyle Love Supreme. He wrote the earliest draft of In the Heights in 1999 (his sophomore year of college). After the show was accepted by
Wesleyan's student theater company (The Second Stage), Miranda worked
on adding "freestyle rap ... bodegas, and salsa numbers."[1] It played from 20 April to 22 April, to huge crowds. After seeing the play, two Wesleyan seniors, John Buffalo Mailer - Norman Mailer 's son and future playwright and author - and Thomas Kail - the show's
future director - approached Miranda and asked if the play could be
expanded to be on Broadway.[ 1]
Miranda
wrote and directed several other musicals at Wesleyan. He also acted in
many other productions, ranging from musicals to Shakespeare.
Miranda became the youngest honorary doctoral degree recipient in Yeshiva University 's history at the university's commencement exercises in 2009.
In the Heights
In 2002, Miranda and Mailer worked with director Tommy Kail and wrote five separate drafts of In the Heights that were dissected. During this time, Miranda worked as an English
teacher at his old high school. After making it off-Broadway, the play
went to Broadway in 2007.[ 1] Miranda made his last performance in the Broadway show on February 15, 2009.[ 3] However, Miranda reprised his role of Usnavi when the national tour of
In the Heights played in Los Angeles, California from June 23 to July
25, 2010.[ 4] [ 5] The tour will continue without him at the helm until it plays in San
Juan, Puerto Rico, where he will briefly take the lead again. Lin-
Manuel Miranda will reprise his role of Usnavi in the future movie
release of "In The Heights", which Kenny Ortega is to direct.
Other work
Miranda wrote, directed, and acted in an independent film called Clayton's Friends (1996). In 2007, Miranda made an appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When."[ 6] Miranda also worked as an English teacher at his old high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant reviewer, and composed music for commercials.[ 7] In2008, Miranda 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 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida[ 8] .
Miranda wrote Spanish-language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the revival of West Side Story , which opened on Broadway in March 2009.[ 9] [ 10] He is also a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric Company . Miranda also appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle," playing himself working as an intern and rapper.[ 11] In September 2009, Miranda played Alvie, Gregory House 's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House . He reprised the role in May 2010.[ 12] He will also appear in the 40th season premiere of Sesame Street .[ 13]
He
is a member of Freestyle Love Supreme, a performance group of
freestylers that make up words on the spot. Chris Jackson—a member of
the original Broadway cast of In the Heights—is also a member.
Miranda and the cast of In the Heights performed segments from In the Heights at the Lincoln Center Barnes and Noble . They also performed at the Virgin Megastore. Recently a flashmob performance done by Flash Mob America was posted on Youtube showing a large scale street version of 96,000 being performed as Miranda ate lunch.
Miranda has made several popular YouTube videos centered around "In the Heights", performing songs like "Bet on It" from High School Musical 2Run This Town " with lyrics altered to concern the show. and "
He is working on a hip-hop album based upon the life of Alexander Hamilton , entitled The Hamilton Mixtape.[ 14] He recently performed "The Hamilton Mixtape" at the White House Evening
of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word on May 12, 2009, accompanied by
Alex Lacamoire.[ 15]
Miranda announced that he would be joining the tour of In the Heights in Los Angeles at the Pantages Theatre until July 25, 2010.
He is current working on the musical Bring It On , based of the 2000 cheerleader comedy film of the same name. It is set to debut in Atlanta, Ga in 2011.
Personal life
Miranda
has been dating Vanessa [name hidden}, a high school friend who grew up
in Washington Heights, since 2005. The principal female character in In the Heights , Vanessa, is in fact not named after [name hidden], as many believe.
It was named after his sister's best friend and he'd coincidentally met
Vanessa after the creation of the character. As of October 30, 2009,
Miranda and Vanessa are engaged.
Miranda received an honorary degree from Yeshiva University during its May 14, 2009 graduation ceremony. He is the youngest person
to receive an honorary degree from Yeshiva University. His show In the Heights is based in the upper Manhattan community of Washington Heights, which is also home to Yeshiva's campus. Ed Koch , former mayor of New York, presented Miranda with the degree and
remarked about first meeting him when Miranda was seven years old.