Claim: Moana is a Disney movie.

Lin-Manuel Miranda -LRB- born January 16 , 1980 -RRB- is an American playwright and composer best known for creating and starring in the Broadway musicals Hamilton and In the Heights . In addition to theatre work , Miranda was heavily involved with Disney 's Moana soundtrack and will star in their upcoming film Mary Poppins Returns . He has won a Pulitzer Prize , two Grammys , an Emmy , a MacArthur Fellowship , and three Tony Awards , among others .   Miranda wrote the music and lyrics for the musical In the Heights , which opened on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in March 2008 . Miranda 's written work for the show earned him numerous accolades , including the 2008 Tony Award for Best Original Score and the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album . Miranda 's performance in the show 's lead role of Usnavi also earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical , and the show won Best Musical .   Miranda also wrote the book , music , and lyrics for Hamilton , his second major Broadway musical , which was inspired by the 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton by historian Ron Chernow . The show earned the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama , the 2016 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album , and was nominated for a record-setting 16 Tony Awards , of which it won 11 -- including Best Musical . For his performance in the lead role of Alexander Hamilton in the show , Miranda received the 2016 Drama League Distinguished Performance Award as well as his second Tony performance nomination . Miranda also won the Tony Award for Best Original Score and Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for Hamilton . The Hamilton cast recording spent ten weeks atop Billboard '' 's Top Rap Albums chart in 2015 , while The Hamilton Mixtape , an album of covers from the musical developed by and featuring Miranda , reached number one on the Billboard 200 '' upon release in December 2016 .