Puerto Rican American composer, lyricist and performer, Lin-Manuel Miranda, can now add 'genius' to his long list of accomplishments. He just joined a line of talented and creative individuals as one of the 2015 MacArthur Foundation Fellows.
The 'Hamilton' director and lead actor will get a stipend of $625,000, paid in quarterly installments over five years with no strings attached. This means that the fellows are provided with the maximum freedom to follow their creative visions and there are no restrictions on how they can spend the money.
Miranda's big break came in 2008 when he wrote the music and lyrics for and acted in the award-winning musical "In the Heights." The musical won a Tony award and Grammy award. Miranda earned a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical.
In 2013, Miranda joined former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres in the bilingual romantic comedy, "200 Cartas." The semi auto-biographical comedy was directed by Bruno Irrizary, who said he specifically chose Lin-Manuel Miranda because of his "bad Spanish." “I told him your Spanish is so bad, I want you to be my lead actor," he said.
Now, Miranda has attracted millions of viewers, including President and Mrs. Obama to watch his critically acclaimed musical, "Hamilton."
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Miranda took to Twitter to show his family member's reactions to his prestigious nomination.
"Gmorning. My sister told my nephew that his tío got an award for being a genius. Is Tío a genius? His response," his Tweet said. The video shows his nephew saying, "Maybe."
Other recipients of the "genius grants," included Puppetry Artist and Director Basil Twist, Dancer-choreographer Michelle Dorrance, Poet Ellen Bryant Voigt, Painter Nicole Eisenman, and others.