Hamilton Creator, Original Star Lin-Manuel Miranda is Next Great Names Guest

An award-winning songwriter, actor, director and producer, Miranda began writing the song-and-rap Broadway smash in 2008 after reading Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton. The writing and development process continued until the musical’s premiere in 2015. Hamilton received the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Drama and earned a record-breaking 16 Tony nominations, of which it won 11, including two for Miranda for Book and Score of a Musical.

The original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton won the 2016 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. Both Miranda and Hamilton won the 2016 Drama League Awards for Distinguished Performance and Outstanding Production of a Musical, respectively.

Material from the show was previewed at the White House during its first-ever Evening of Poetry & Spoken Word in 2009, Lincoln Center Theater’s 2012 American Songbook Series, and New York Stage and Film’s 2013 Powerhouse Theater Season at Vassar College. Miranda performed what became one of the musical’s numbers on the college’s campus in 2012 to kick off Hamilton’s Bicentennial celebration.

In 2020, a film of the 2015 Broadway company of Hamilton was released on Disney+. The film received 12 Emmy Nominations in 2021 winning four awards, including Outstanding Variety Special (pre-recorded). The film also won the 2020 People’s Choice award for Best Drama Movie (and Best Drama Movie Actor for Miranda), the 2021 Critics Choice Award for Best Television Movie, and the 2021 AFI Special Award from the American Film Institute.

Miranda also created and starred in the 2008 Broadway musical In the Heights. It received four 2008 Tony Awards with Miranda receiving the honor for Best Score and a nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. In the Heights also won a 2009 Grammy for its original Broadway cast album and was recognized as a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

He has provided additional lyrics for the musical New York, New York, and was the co-composer and co-lyricist of Bring it On: The Musical in 2013. Miranda contributed music, lyrics, and vocals to several songs in Disney’s feature film Moana, which earned him a 2017 Oscar nomination and a 2018 Grammy Award for the original song, “How Far I’ll Go.” He worked with composer Alan Menken on new songs and lyrics for Disney’s 2023 live-action musical film, The Little Mermaid.

Miranda wrote eight original songs for Disney’s Academy Award-winning animated feature Encanto, which won three 2023 Grammys. He made his film directorial debut with 2021’s tick, tick… BOOM! That film, which he also produced, received two 2022 Academy Award nominations. Among other awards and nominations, tick, tick… BOOM! was selected as one of the Top 10 Films of 2021 by the American Film Institute and received three awards from the Hollywood Critics Association.

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 2019 Portrait of A Nation Prize. He has received stars on both the Puerto Rico Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He serves as a council member of The Dramatists Guild, a board member of the Dramatist Guild Foundation, and was appointed by former Mayor Bill de Blasio to New York City’s Theater Subdistrict Council in 2015.

Miranda founded 5000 Broadway Productions, a company committed to uplifting diverse and underrepresented voices both in front of and behind the camera, in addition to making the world of theater more accessible to the masses. 

He, and the Miranda family, are active supporters of initiatives that increase the representation of people of color throughout the arts and government and ensure access to women’s reproductive health and promote resilience in Puerto Rico.

Miranda received his B.A. from Wesleyan University in 2002. He lives with his family in New York.

Posted August 8, 2025