Figuring It Out
The Hamilton star proves his appeal
extends beyond Broadway.
“If you had asked me, ‘Did you always
know you wanted to do this?,’ I would’ve
said no,” Anthony Ramos tells me, scrolling through his
phone. “Then my mom found this letter I wrote in the
third grade.” He locates a picture of the note and starts
reading from it: “If I had the opportunity to be on
television, I would like to entertain all the people. I
would sing some funny songs and some romantic songs.
The tone would be high and low.” It seems nine-year-old
Ramos had a sense of his future that not even the
adult Ramos can quite comprehend.
We are sitting inside a buzzing Park Slope diner,
around the corner from Ramos’s Brooklyn apartment,
where he lives with his fiancée, Jasmine Cephas Jones.
The two met when they were performing as part of the
original cast of Hamilton (Ramos played the dual roles
of John Laurens and Philip Hamilton; Cephas Jones
played Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds) and got
engaged late last year. The proposal, which took
place in front of Cephas Jones’s mother and grandmother,
as well as friends like Cynthia Erivo, was videotaped
and posted to YouTube for Hamilcouple fans. Still in the
early stages of wedding planning, they’ve already figured
out their priorities. “Jasmine and I both love music, so
the DJ’s gotta be on point,” he tells me. “I want people
sweating, suit jackets off, chancletas on.”
Wearing a gray tee, denim shorts, and an old Calvin
Klein Jeans baseball cap, Ramos has an
AGAINST THE GRAIN
“IT’S IMPORTANT TO WRITE OUR OWN THINGS AND TELL OUR
STORIES,” SAYS ANTHONY RAMOS (IN A JOHN ELLIOTT HOODIE).
“THE PERSON FROM ALABAMA’S NOT GOING TO WRITE THE
PUERTO RICO STORY.” DETAILS, SEE IN THIS ISSUE. PHOTOGRAPHED
BY ANTON CORBIJN. SITTINGS EDITOR: PHYLLIS POSNICK.
TALENT
TA L E N T> 8 4
VLIFE
78 NOVEMBER 2019 VOGUE.COM
GROOMING: BETSY REYES AND MARTHA MELENDEZ
