In the musical Hamilton, the character Alexander Hamilton sings, “I am not throwing away my shot.” The actor who first sang those words was Lin-Manuel Miranda. Not only did he sing them, he wrote them too. Although they were about Hamilton, they were also about him.

Lin-Manuel was born in 1980 in New York City. His family was from Puerto Rico. He often spent summers on the island with his relatives. As a kid, he spoke English at school and Spanish at home. He enjoyed acting from an early age and performed in many of his school’s plays and musicals.

During his second year in college, Lin-Manuel started writing a musical of his own. It was called In the Heights. It was set in Washington Heights, the Latino neighborhood where he grew up.

Lin-Manuel graduated college in 2002. He continued to write his musical while working part-time. In 2008, In the Heights came to Broadway. Lin-Manuel was the star. The musical was a hit and won four Tony awards.

Around this time, Lin-Manuel read a biography of Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the United States. Lin-Manuel said, “I had to learn a lot about American history that I didn’t know. You have to put yourself not only in their shoes, but in their skin, and in their heart, to understand how they saw the world.”

Lin-Manuel did put himself in Hamilton’s shoes, skin, and heart, as he began creating a musical to tell his story. While writing the play he focused on diversity. He chose nonwhite actors to play the white historical figures. And he composed the music as a mix of rap, hip-hop, pop, and show tunes.

Hamilton came to Broadway in 2015. It was a big success. It won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and eleven Tony Awards. Lin-Manuel shot to fame as an actor, singer, rapper, composer, and writer.

Since the success of Hamilton, Lin-Manuel has continued to produce amazing work. He wrote the songs for the Disney movies Moana and Encanto. He also starred in the film Mary Poppins Returns.

Perhaps most importantly, Lin-Manuel has given back to his community. In 2016 he raffled tickets to his last performance in Hamilton. The raffle raised two million dollars to help Latino children and families around the country. He also helped the people of Puerto Rico when the island was hit by a hurricane in 2017. Lin-Manuel has achieved success in work and in life. He is still working, creating, and giving back. Like his character Alexander Hamilton, he is not throwing away his shot.