Lin-Manuel Miranda

Studied piano and sang in the school choir while growing up, and in a three-hour medley of plays in a big sixth-grade show, roles included Bernardo in West Side Story and Conrad in Bye Bye Birdie. Is a founding member of Freestyle Love Supreme, an  improvisational, hip-hop comedy troupe that has toured the U.S., Europe, Australia and Canada. Wrote earliest draft of In the Heights—which would win the 2008 Tony Award for Best Musical and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize—in 1999, during his sophomore year in college, where it was first produced. Presented In the Heights onstage in Waterford, Conn., in 2005, and off-Broadway in 2007, the latter winning two Drama Desk Awards (for Ensemble Performance and Choreography) out of nine nominations, before making its Broadway debut in 2008. Other accolades include the 2007 ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award and a 2007 Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance. Worked with Stephen Sondheim on Spanish translations for some lyrics and dialogue for a 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. In 2009, performed at the inaugural White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word, hosted by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his musical Hamilton in 2016.