Anthony Ramos

Anthony Paul Ramos Martinez was born on November 1, 1991, and grew up in Brooklyn, New York City. His family is Puerto Rican, of African, indigenous, and European descent. He was raised in Hope Gardens Apartments, an affordable housing complex in Bushwick, Brooklyn, with his mother, older brother, and younger sister. His father struggled with substance abuse and was only occasionally present in his life. Ramos attended Halsey Junior High School in Queens, where he performed Motown songs at school assemblies as part of a student group called the Halsey Trio, and graduated from New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn in 2009. At that time, his ambitions centered on baseball, including plans to compete in NCAA Division III and pursue a coaching career afterward. He went on to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on a full scholarship through the Seinfeld Scholarship, run by Jerry Seinfeld, graduating from the musical theater program in 2011.

Following his graduation, Ramos performed in regional and touring musical productions beginning in 2011, including the role of Usnavi de la Vega in a 2012 production of In the Heights. In 2014, he performed in Heart and Lights at Radio City Music Hall, a dance show featuring the Rockettes that was canceled during previews. During rehearsals for that production, he auditioned for the off-Broadway production of Hamilton at The Public Theater. Before Hamilton opened, he also played Justin Laboy in Lin-Manuel Miranda's short musical 21 Chump Street, a 14-minute, one-time performance on June 7, 2014, recorded for This American Life.

Hamilton opened off-Broadway in early 2015, with Ramos originating the dual role of John Laurens and Philip Hamilton, the oldest son of Alexander Hamilton. The musical moved to Broadway in previews on July 13, 2015, and officially opened on August 6, 2015. Ramos remained with the production until November 20, 2016, when he was replaced by Jordan Fisher. His performance on the original Broadway cast recording earned him a Grammy Award. He also received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role in a Limited Series or Movie for his work in the 2020 stage recording of the production.

Outside of Broadway, Ramos was cast in director Spike Lee's Netflix comedy-drama series She's Gotta Have It in September 2016, playing the role of Mars Blackmon. He appeared in the 2018 remake of A Star Is Born, directed by and starring Bradley Cooper alongside Lady Gaga, in the supporting role of Ramon. In 2021, he starred as Usnavi de la Vega in the film adaptation of In the Heights, a role that earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. He was cast in the lead role of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, released on June 9, 2023, and appeared in Twisters, the sequel to the 1996 film Twister, in July 2024. He also voiced the character Piranha in the animated films The Bad Guys (2022) and The Bad Guys 2 (2025), and was cast as Parker Robbins, also known as The Hood, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe streaming series Ironheart. In January 2024, he was cast in the lead voice role in a Bob the Builder animated film.

Ramos has also pursued a recording career. In October 2017, he joined Lin-Manuel Miranda as one of the vocalists on "Almost Like Praying," released to benefit victims of Hurricane Maria. His debut solo EP, The Freedom EP, was released on January 20, 2018, and included the singles "Freedom" and "Common Ground," produced by Will Wells, who had previously worked with Logic and Pentatonix, as well as two additional tracks, "When The Bell Tolls" and "PRayer." In June 2019, he signed to Republic Records, an event he documented on his YouTube series It Takes A Village. His debut album, The Good & The Bad, was released on October 25, 2019, debuting at number 21 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart. His second album, Love and Lies, was released on June 25, 2021, and debuted at number 36 on the Billboard Top 200, where it remained for one week.

In his personal life, Ramos met actress Jasmine Cephas Jones during rehearsals for the off-Broadway production of Hamilton in 2014. He confirmed their relationship in February 2015, and proposed to Jones on Christmas Eve 2018 in front of her favorite castle in Arundel, England. In November 2021, they ended their engagement and subsequently split. In February 2024, Ramos appeared on episode 104 of the PBS genealogy series Finding Your Roots, where he discovered that a portion of his heritage traces to the Canary Islands and that his 16th great-grandfather was Pelinor, an indigenous Guanche king of the island of Tenerife who died in 1505.