On June 10, after a year-long delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, In The Heights, finally made the jump from stage to screen as a cheerful, splashy, and much-needed party.
Now, if you're anything like us (or Oprah, for that matter) you've been anxiously awaiting the film's release, reading and watching everything published ahead of the premiere. That means you've likely come across one name over and over again: Anthony Ramos.
In the movie (available now on HBO Max), which was adapted by Jon M. Chu from Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes’s Tony-winning Broadway musical, the 29-year-old singer and actor plays the lead role of Usnavi, a bodega owner who lives in Washington Heights (a stretch of Upper Manhattan that's home to a large Latinx population), but dreams of returning to the Dominican Republic.
While Ramos's freckled face may be familiar to some—he was one of the original Hamilton cast members, along with his fiancée, Jasmine Cephas Jones, and has since had roles in Will & Grace, A Star is Born, and Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It—in the coming months, he's likely to become a household name. In addition to appearing in Calvin Klein's star-studded spring 2021 campaign, Ramos, who is of Puerto Rican descent, is currently starring opposite Uzo Aduba in HBO's In Treatment. Not to mention that he's also got two bigger projects on the horizon: In 2022, he'll star in both the comedic sci-fi feature film Distant and the next installment of the Transformers franchise.
With that in mind, we've gathered everything you need to know about the movie musical's breakout star.
Anthony Ramos got into acting by accident.
Ramos grew up in a public housing development in Bushwick, New York where he was raised by a single Puerto Rican mother of three. "We were pretty broke," he said in an interview with Vogue. "I asked my mom all the time, 'Why do we eat rice, beans, and chicken every day?'" But even though money was often scarce, he was surrounded by rich culture. “There were Jamaicans, Trinidadians, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, so the food was always good. The music was always playing; there’s a pulse in the streets,” Ramos recalled. “It wasn’t the easiest all the time, but it never lacked adventure or exploration."
As a result, Ramos found an escape in music (he used to write and record songs with his cousins) and baseball, which he had considered pursuing professionally. That is, until his junior year of high school, when he "just stopped showing up to games," he told The New York Times. "I had a moment on the field where I was like, yeah, this ain’t it. I didn’t belong there anymore."
Around the same time, Ramos heard about auditions for what he thought was a talent show at his high school, called Sing. As it turns out, Sing was actually a student-created musical—and Ramos landed the lead. "I’m wearing this ridiculous crown, I look like Burger King, I was wearing eyeliner, there was way too much blush on my face," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "It didn’t matter how ridiculous I may have thought I looked before we started. It didn’t matter any of the things that might have made me insecure about what I was doing, because it was just this moment where I felt the energy of the audience and I’m singing to her and singing out to the audience and I was like, 'This feels amazing.'"
Following the performance, the high school’s musical theater director, Sara Steinweiss, convinced Ramos to apply to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA). Not only did she offer to help him with his audition and essays, but she also covered the $50 application fee, which he couldn't afford. "I knew that if I didn’t do this, he wasn’t doing it,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. "It’s not because he was lazy but because he was exhausted from life."
Despite being told to be "ethnically ambiguous," he's proud of his Puerto Rican heritage.
In 2016, when the Hamilton cast won the Grammy Award for best musical theater album, Ramos walked onto the stage proudly waving the Puerto Rico flag. But embracing his background hadn't always been encouraged—especially when Ramos first entered the entertainment business. "Folks would say to me that if you grow your hair out and speak in American Standard, you can be more ethnically ambiguous; you won’t be in the 'Latino box.' I thought that sh*t was a box, as opposed to being a superpower and just who I am," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "I believed that [box] sh*t for a little bit, but I don’t want to be hired for being ambiguous. I want to be hired for who the f—ck I am."
That's a stark contrast to Ramos's experience filming numbers like "Carnaval del Barrio" for In The Heights. "We’re singing these songs about being proud of where you’re from or where your ancestors are from, and I had this moment on set," he told the Los Angeles Times. "I was like, 'I hope, Grandma, I hope you’re looking down.'"
Ramos's first foray in the In the Heights musical was playing Sonny in a Salt Lake City production.
While attending AMDA, Ramos had the chance to see Miranda's semi-autobiographical, Tony Award-winning musical on Broadway. The then 18-year-old musical theater student was immediately blown away: "This was the one musical that I could be in—the lead was Latin, the songs were from my world, and I memorized every line," he said in an interview for W Magazine. "I was learning songs from Carousel and Gypsy, and thinking, I don’t know about this. Then I went to In the Heights, and there were so many people who looked and sounded like me. I grew up on streets like that, eating that food, listening to that music. In the Heights gave me some hope about my future."
After that experience, Ramos tried out for a spot in a national tour of the musical—but was cut after the final round of auditions. In between minor gigs (a New Jersey Grease production, a cruise ship performance of the Saturday Night Fever musical), Ramos auditioned two more times for In The Heights. On his third attempt, he landed the role of Sonny, Usnavi’s teenage cousin and sidekick, in a Salt Lake City production of the musical.
Several years later, in 2018, Ramos played Usnavi for a weeklong run at the Kennedy Center—which convinced Miranda, who originated the role, that the movie version belonged to Ramos. "It fits him better [than me]. He doesn’t have to put anything on,” Miranda told The Hollywood Reporter. "I think spiritually I’m closer to a Nina [the barrio’s burdened overachiever] than Usnavi, and watching him embody the hopes and struggles of this neighborhood just felt like a suit that fit him perfectly."
He has a flourishing screen acting career, with roles in A Star Is Born and the upcoming Transformers movie.
In 2017, he appeared in Spike Lee’s Netflix adaptation of She's Gotta Have It and the following year, he played Lady Gaga’s best friend, Ramon, in the remake of A Star Is Born. And, you can watch him on TV right now in the HBO drama series, In Treatment, where he stars opposite Uzo Aduba.
That—along with his leading role in In The Heights—explains why the New York Times recently declared that "this might just might be the summer of Anthony Ramos." Though, his Hollywood reign will likely continue through 2022, when he stars in the 2022 sci-fi epic Distant and leads the next installment of the Transformers franchise. “I always wanted to be the first Puerto Rican superhero," he told Entertainment Tonight. "[And] now I get to be in a film where I’ll be able to do that.”
...And an equally fruitful music career.
Despite his success on stage and screen, Ramos insists that music has always been—and will always be—his first love, according to an article in The Hollywood Reporter. After leaving Hamilton, Ramos spent three months writing songs with music producer Will Wells, who worked on the off-Broadway staging of the musical. "Every day during the show, every time Anthony got up to sing 'Raise a glass to freedom'’ my ears would perk up. I just believed him," Wells told the entertainment magazine. "After opening night I went up to him and said, 'Everybody up there is obviously brilliant, but you’ve got something special. Have you ever made a record?'"
In 2018, Ramos released an EP, The Freedom, which was followed by his first full-length album, The Good & The Bad in the fall of 2019. On June 25, Ramos will release his second album, Love and Lies, which he described to the Los Angeles Times as being like "riding the Nitro at Six Flags," adding, "We just on a never-ending roller coaster of 12 bangers...We have reggaeton vibes, we got the Caribbean vibes...we got R&B vibes...There’s something for everybody on this album."
He's engaged to his former Hamilton cast member, Jasmine Cephas Jones.
In 2014, Ramos auditioned for the off-Broadway production of Hamilton and was cast as both revolutionary John Laurens and Hamilton's eldest son, Philip. The dual role would change his life—in more ways than one.
During rehearsals, Ramos met Jasmine Cephas Jones, a talented actress and singer, who would be playing Peggy Schuyler in the first act and Maria Reynolds in the second. According to Miranda, Ramos kept "sneaking glances" at Cephas Jones during the first table read.
“Anthony is one of the most beautiful people you will ever meet," Cephas Jones told Essence. "He has such a heart of gold and he cares about humanity and the world so much. He brings happiness. He’s such a bright light and such a bright light in my life as well. And we learn from each other and we inspire each other, and we support each other and our creative lane."
Three years later, Ramos surprised Cephas Jones when he proposed on Christmas Eve. The couple—along with her mother and grandmother, and friends like Cynthia Erivo—were visiting one of Cephas Jones's favorite castles in England. "I love you so much," he said through tears as he pulled an emerald cut engagement ring. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You’re the angel of my life. Will you marry me?”
While they had planned to get married in Fall 2020, the couple ultimately postponed their big day due to the coronavirus pandemic, Ramos revealed in an interview with singer Israel Houghton. When they do get married, though, guests can expect lots of dancing: "Jasmine and I both love music, so the DJ’s gotta be on point," he told Vogue. "I want people sweating, suit jackets off, chancletas on."
Ramos does not have any kids (yet), but he is a devoted dog dad.
Ramos and Cephas Jones have two beloved dogs: A four-year-old French bulldog named Nala and a nearly two-year-old Alaskan klee kai named Prince. The couple even created an Instagram account for their furry family members (@nala.n.prince), which you can follow for snapshots of the dogs taking part in their favorite activities, "singing and taking strolls in the park."
Yes, that is him in those Crown Royal commercials.
In 2018, Ramos teamed up again with Spike Lee—but this time for a sweet Crown Royal commercial, in which he toasted his mom, Mildred.
Nearly two years later, in September 2020, the Canadian whisky brand asked Ramos and singer Ari Lennox to recreate Sly and the Family Stone's iconic song "If You Want Me to Stay" as part of a campaign to help bars, venues, and clubs that were at risk of closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
