Anthony Ramos is an American actor and singer who had his breakthrough role in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit Broadway musical Hamilton, in which he originated the dual role of John Laurens and Philip Hamilton in 2015. Ramos followed that performance with roles in Spike Lee’s television series She’s Got to Have It and a supporting performance in the Bradley Cooper–directed film A Star is Born. Ramos has since been cast as lead in the film adaptation of Miranda’s musical In the Heights, as well as 2023’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Ramos has also released several solo albums as a recording artist.
Early Life
Anthony Paul Ramos Martinez was born on November 1, 1991, in Brooklyn, New York. Ramos, who is of Puerto Rican descent, grew up with his single mother, Mildred, and two siblings in a housing project in Bushwick, which was then a rough part of Brooklyn. The family often struggled financially. According to the book Hamilton: The Revolution, Ramos related to the line from a Hamilton song “My Shot” that said “See, I never thought I’d live past twenty,” because he said: “That’s how a lot of people in my neighborhood think. A lot of them didn’t live past 21.”
Ramos attended Halsey Junior High School, where he was active in sports and sang in a student group called The Halsey Trio, which performed songs by The Temptations and other Motown numbers at school assemblies. Ramos enjoyed performing recreationally from a young age, organizing brief improv scenes and singing songs privately for his family, though he never received vocal lessons as a child. He also recorded rap tracks on his personal computer using beats he downloaded using the file sharing software LimeWire.
Early Career
After graduating high school in 2009, Ramos attended the American Musical Dramatic Academy (AMDA). Although his high school grades were poor and he couldn’t afford voice or acting lessons, Ramos got a scholarship after a high school teacher helped arrange an interview for him with the Jerry Seinfeld Scholarship Foundation. According to Hamilton: The Revolution, Ramos said during the interview: “All I need is one shot. All I need is someone to believe in me. And I won’t let you down. My grades are not a reflection of who I am.”
After graduating from AMDA’s musical theater program in 2011, Ramos attended auditions and landed occasional gigs but initially struggled as an actor, according to Hamilton: The Revolution. In 2012, he was cast in a supporting role in a Salt Lake City production of In the Heights, a musical by future Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. However, he “bombed” an audition for the show’s national tour and wasn’t cast, according to The New York Times. He was “crushed” by the rejection, according to Hamilton: The Revolution.
Early Struggles Before Hamilton
For the next few years, Ramos performed in regional productions and cruise-ship musicals, while also auditioning for parts on commercials, but he was having trouble generating much name recognition. By 2014, Ramos was performing in Hearts and Lights, a dance show with The Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. That show was canceled during previews, but according to Hamilton: The Revolution, a casting agent who watched Ramos audition for another show soon after suggested he try out for an off-Broadway production called Hamilton, Miranda’s hip-hop musical about the life of American Founding Father
Ramos was cast in the dual role of revolutionary John Laurens and Hamilton’s eldest child Philip Hamilton. At age 24, Ramos was the youngest member of the original Hamilton cast, according to Hamilton: The Revolution. In that book, Miranda wrote that Anthony imbued both his characters with “an awareness of the randomness” of who survives and who doesn’t and said Ramos has “seen a lot of things that he wishes he hadn’t seen.” Hamilton premiered on Broadway on August 6, 2015, and became a phenomenal success. Ramos drew particular praise from President Barack Obama, who saw the show in July 2015 and told Ramos afterward, “You’re really gifted,” according to Hamilton: The Revolution.
Movies and TV Shows
The year after leaving Hamilton, Ramos partnered once again with Miranda as a vocalist on “Almost Like Praying,” a song written by Miranda to help raise funds for Hurricane Maria relief efforts in Puerto Rico. Ramos appeared in his first major post-Hamilton role in the Netflix comedy-drama series She’s Gotten Have It, Spike Lee’s remake of his original 1986 film. Ramos played Mars Blackmon, a role Lee originated in the movie version. She’s Got to Have It ran for two seasons from November 2017 to May 2019. Ramos also made several guest appearances in the 2017 revival of the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, portraying the assistant of Debra Messing’s character Grace.
Music Career
Even as his acting opportunities were growing, Ramos continued to pursue a career as a recording artist. His solo EP debut, The Freedom EP, was released in January 2018. It was inspired by shock and outrage following the 2016 election of President Donald Trump. Ramos said of writing it: “Am I going to sit there and have the mentality of ‘Whatever happens, happens?’ There was so much to write about, that to not do something almost felt like a crime.”
Ramos signed with Republic Records in June 2019 and released his debut full-length album The Good & The Bad that October. It debuted at No. 21 on the Billboard Heat seekers Albums chart. Ramos released his second album with Republic Records, Love and Lies, in June 2021. Rolling Stone wrote that Ramos was “setting his sights on full-on pop stardom” with the album, adding: “Even if Ramos is still finding his groove as a pop star, Love and Lysis a promising step in the right direction.”
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