Anthony Ramos

Ramos was born Anthony Paul Ramos Martinez on November 1, 1991. He grew up in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. He is Puerto Rican of African, Indigenous and European descent. On a 2024 episode of Finding Your Roots, Ramos learned that a portion of his heritage traces back to the Canary Islands, and his 16th great-grandfather was Pelinor (d. 1505), an indigenous Guanche king of the island of Tenerife.

He lived in Hope Gardens Apartments, an affordable housing complex in Bushwick, Brooklyn, with his mother, older brother, and younger sister.

Ramos' father struggled with substance abuse and was variably present in his life.

Ramos attended Halsey Junior High School, where he sang Motown songs at school assemblies in a student group called the Halsey Trio. He is a 2009 graduate of New Utrecht High School. His ambitions at the time centered around baseball, including plans to play NCAA Division III college baseball, followed by a coaching career.

After high school, Ramos attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, a conservatory for the performing arts, on a full scholarship from the Seinfeld Scholarship, run by Jerry Seinfeld. He graduated from its musical theatre program in 2011.Starting in 2011, Ramos earned roles in a variety of regional and touring musical productions, including Usnavi de la Vega in a 2012 production of In the Heights.

In 2014, Ramos performed in Heart and Lights at Radio City Music Hall, a dance show with the Rockettes which was canceled during previews. During rehearsals for Heart and Lights, Ramos auditioned for the off-Broadway production of Hamilton at The Public Theater.

After being cast in Hamilton, Ramos played Justin Laboy in Lin-Manuel Miranda's short musical 21 Chump Street, a 14-minute, one-time performance on June 7, 2014, that was recorded for This American Life.

Hamilton opened off-Broadway in early 2015, with Ramos originating the dual roles of John Laurens and Philip Hamilton, the oldest son of Alexander Hamilton. The musical moved to Broadway on July 13, 2015, in previews, and opened on August 6, 2015. Ramos left the production on November 20, 2016 being replaced by Jordan Fisher.

In September 2016, it was announced that Ramos had been cast in director Spike Lee's Netflix comedy-drama series She's Gotta Have It, in the role of Mars Blackmon.

Ramos played the role of Ramon in the 2018 remake of A Star Is Born, starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, and directed by Cooper.

In 2018, Variety reported that Ramos had been cast as Usnavi de la Vega in the film adaptation of In the Heights. The movie was released in 2021 to significant acclaim, but was a box-office bomb.

In April 2021, Ramos was cast in the lead role in the next installment of the Transformers film franchise, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. The film was released on June 9, 2023.

In February 2022, Ramos was cast as Parker Robbins / The Hood in the upcoming superhero streaming series Ironheart, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In January 2024, Ramos was cast as the lead voice role in a Bob the Builder animated film.

In July 2024, Ramos appeared in Twisters, the sequel to the 1996 film Twister.

Ramos appeared on the original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton in 2015, in the dual roles of John Laurens and Philip Hamilton.

He reunited with Lin-Manuel Miranda in October 2017 as one of the vocalists on Miranda's song "Almost Like Praying", a release to benefit Hurricane Maria victims.

On November 8, 2017, two tracks, "Freedom" and "Common Ground", from his first solo EP, titled The Freedom EP, were released. The release was produced by Will Wells, who had previously worked with Logic and Pentatonix. The Freedom EP was released on January 20, 2018. In addition to the previously released singles, the EP included two new songs, "When The Bell Tolls" and "PRayer" [sic].

On June 13, 2019, it was announced that Ramos had signed to Republic Records. The signing was documented on his YouTube series, It Takes A Village, where he revealed that new music would be released that summer. His debut album, The Good & The Bad, was released in the autumn on October 25, 2019. Although it did not chart on the US Billboard Top 200 album chart, it did debut at number 21 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart.

On June 25, 2021, Republic released his second album, Love and Lies. The album debuted and peaked for one week at number 36 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart.