Thomas Kail

Thomas Kail is a Tony Award-winning film and theater director known for directing Broadway and off-Broadway productions of Lin-Manuel Miranda's musicals "Hamilton" and "In the Heights." In 2016, Kail received the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for his work with "Hamilton."

For his work directing "In the Heights," which debuted on Broadway in 2008, Kail received a Tony nomination for Best Direction of a Musical.

Kail's other work in the theater includes directing the Broadway play "Lombardi," the Broadway play "Magic/Bird" and the off-Broadway "Broke-ology."

Kail became friends with Miranda, with whom he is a long-time collaborator, while the two were students at Wesleyan University. Together they co-created the freestyle hip-hop group Freestyle Love Supreme, which played the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, Montreal Comedy Festial and Melbourne Comedy Festival.

His television credits include serving as director on "Grease! Live" for FOX and Oprah's "Primetime Oscar Special for ABC," as well as being an executive producer of the TV show "Freestyle Love Supreme" for Pivot. Kail also served as the musical director of "The Electric Company."

Kail directed the world premiere of "Dry Powder" with Hank Azaria, Claire Danes, John Krasinski and Sanjit De Silva which ran at The Public Theater in New York City in 2016; and "Tiny Beautiful Things," also at The Public.

In 2018, Kail was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor for "Hamilton." He was nominated for two Emmy's for his work on the autobiographical miniseries "Fosse/Verdon" in 2019.

In 2020, Kail directed and produced the live recording of "Hamilton" into movie format. The film was acclaimed by critics for its visuals, performances, and direction.