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10 Surprising Facts About Lin Manuel Miranda

Lin Manuel Miranda is an American songwriter, actor, singer, filmmaker, and playwright. Miranda made his Broadway debut in 2008 in the musical In the Heights in which he starred and wrote the music and lyrics. The book was by Quiara Alegria Hudes. 

The production was a critical and commercial success, winning the Tony Award for Best Musical and Tony Award for Best Original Score, and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. The stage musical was adapted as a film of the same name, released in June 2021. In this article, we feature 10 surprising facts about Lin Manuel Miranda.

1. Miranda originated the lead role of Alexander Hamilton in the hit Broadway musical Hamilton

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Miranda gained still wider recognition for writing the script, music, and lyrics for Hamilton, a highly successful musical acclaimed as a popular culture phenomenon since its 2015 Broadway premiere. 

The Hamilton cast recording spent 10 weeks atop Billboard’s Top Rap Albums chart and became the eleventh-biggest album of the 2010s. The Hamilton Mixtape, a cover album by Miranda, further reached number one on the Billboard 200.

2. Miranda has written original songs for the Walt Disney Company

A frequent collaborator of the Walt Disney Company, Miranda has written original songs for the studio. He gained two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song How Far I’ll Go and Dos Oruguitas for Moana and Encanto, respectively. 

The song We Don’t Talk About Bruno broke various records, marked Miranda’s first number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles charts, and cemented his mainstream fame.

3. Miranda created the soundtrack for the animated film Moana 

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Miranda has created soundtracks for many animated films including Moana. Moana is a 2016 American computer-animated musical fantasy action-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. 

4. Miranda debuted as a film director with Tick, Tick…Boom

Tick, Tick…Boom is a 2021 American biographical musical film directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda in his feature directorial debut.

 Written by Steven Levenson, who also serves as an executive producer, it is based on the stage musical of the same name by Jonathan Larson, a semi-autobiographical story about Larson writing a musical to enter into the theatre industry.

5. Miranda has been politically active on behalf of Puerto Rico

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Puerto Rico is a Caribbean island and unincorporated territory of the United States with official Commonwealth status. 

Miranda met with politicians in 2016 to speak out in favour of debt relief for Puerto Rico and raised funds for rescue efforts and disaster relief after Hurricane Maria in 2017.

6. Miranda is a New Yorker

Miranda was born on January 16, 1980, in New York City to Dr Luz Towns-Miranda, a clinical psychologist, and Luis Miranda Jr., a Democratic Party consultant. His parents chose the name Lin-Manuel when inspired by a poem about the Vietnam War, Nana roja para mi hijo Lin Manuel, by Puerto Rican writer José Manuel Torres Santiago. He was raised Catholic in the neighbourhood of Inwood. He is of Puerto Rican, Mexican, and African American descent.

7. Miranda performed freestyle rap with President Obama

On March 15, 2016, members of the cast of Hamilton performed at the White House and hosted workshops; Miranda performed freestyle rap from prompts held up by President Obama.

After a meeting with President Barack Obama in March 2016, Miranda joined U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, and other Democratic lawmakers to call for congressional action to back a Senate bill in Washington that would allow Puerto Rico to declare bankruptcy and significantly ease its $70 billion government-debt burden.

8. Miranda earned a 3% royalty on each performance of Hamilton

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This earned him $12.7 million by July 2017. Miranda uses proceeds from Hamilton to support Graham Windham, a nonprofit adoption agency founded by Eliza Schuyler Hamilton.

Miranda performs at their fundraising gala benefits in New York City and helps to fundraise for children in foster care.

9. Miranda has won five Grammy Awards

Miranda’s other awards include three Tony Awards, two Emmy Awards, two Laurence Olivier Awards, an Annie Award, a MacArthur Fellowship Award, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a Pulitzer Prize.

10. Miranda has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

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Miranda received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 30, 2018. In December 2018, he received the Kennedy Center Honors for creating Hamilton.

In 2016, Time magazine included Miranda in its annual Time 100 as one of the Most Influential People in the World and he received a star on the Puerto Rico Walk of Fame.