Lin-Manuel Miranda and family honoured at Imagen Awards

Hamilton star Lin-Manuel Miranda and his family won the President’s Award at the Imagen Awards in Beverly Hills, California on Friday night (18Aug17).
The creator and ex-star of his own musical phenomenon, about former U.S. President and Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, attended the event at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel with his mother Luz, his father Luis, his sister, also called Luz, and other relatives. The entire family was honoured for its humanitarian and artistic endeavours in support of the Latino community.
The event was hosted by Last Comic Standing star Aida Rodriguez, and was attended by other stars including Kenny Ortega, director of Michael Jackson’s This Is It concert film, Ugly Betty star America Ferrera, and One Day at a Time actress Justina Machado, as well as American TV legend Norman Lear. One Day at a Time is a remake of Lear’s decades-old TV series of the same name.
Onstage, Moana songwriter Miranda, 37, joked, “We never should have won this award. No family is perfect, our family is really not perfect.” He then credited his parents’ relentless drive for helped him achieve his own success.
“There was always something to be done, and they instilled that in us and so as we’ve gone on to our respective professions, we continue that legacy,” he smiled, according to a Billboard report.
He added, “Things like Hamilton don’t happen alone. If your mother is a psychologist and your dad is in politics, you write Hamilton. That’s the recipe for that. It’s pretty simple.”
High School Musical star Corbin Bleu performed a special version of the musical’s song Alexander Hamilton, changing the words in tribute to the Miranda family.
Miranda later tweeted: “My heart is so full after tonight’s @ImagenAwards. Thanks for honoring our family y nuestra gente (and our people), always.”
Hamilton began its four-month Los Angeles run at the town’s historic Pantages Theatre on Wednesday (19Aug17), with Miranda in attendance. He appeared visibly moved as he was brought on stage after the cast’s curtain call and told the capacity crowd, “I’m a mess! Thank you for welcoming this incredible company with such open arms, Los Angeles…My heart is so full.”