By: Mila Hart

Lin-Manuel Miranda was born on January 16, 1980 in New York City. His parents immigrated from Puerto Rico. He grew up in a Hispanic neighborhood in northern Manhattan called Washington Heights.

Lin-Manuel went to a public high school around Washington Heights, and it was in high school where he found his love for theater arts. All throughout high school Lin-Manuel was a part of his school’s plays and musicals. In high school he started to write the play ‘In the Heights’ at the age of 17. Later he went on to go to a very prestigious college for theater arts called Wesleyan College.

In 2002 Lin-Manuel worked with other directors and playwrights to put on ‘In the Heights’. After premiering in Connecticut, in 2005, and opening at the 37 Arts Theater off-Broadway, in 2007, ‘In the Heights’ went to Broadway in March of 2008.

After performing ‘In the Heights’ on Broadway, the musical went on a North American tour from 2009-2011, and later went on to be performed all around the world. In 2018 Warner Bros acquired the film rights for ‘In the Heights’ and set a release date for June 26th, 2020. For the next year, actors were casted and filming began in June of 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the film was not able to be released until June 10, 2021.

Aside from ‘In the Heights’, Lin-Manuel Miranda has worked on a number of award winning projects and movies. Lin wrote, composed, and starred in the ever so popular broadway musical ‘Hamilton’. It’s the story of Alexander Hamilton and his contributions to history, told through the music styles of rap and hip hop. It has won numerous awards including a Tony, Grammy, and the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Lin wrote the music for the latest Disney hit ‘Encanto’. The song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” has broken records including becoming the first Disney track to top the U.S. chart since ‘Aladdin’s’ “A Whole New World” back in 1992.