The creator of the Broadway smash Hamilton – says the real story of Alexander Hamilton – is one any immigrant can relate to.

Lin-Manuel Miranda has been awarded The Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History.

The winner says he read  Ron Chernow’s biography of the first U.S. treasury secretary – and discovered that he was born and raised – in what was then the West Indies.

Miranda says, “When I found that out about Hamilton, I said, ‘I know this guy.”’

Miranda is of Puerto Rican heritage.

The prize from Columbia University, was created to honour a new play or musical that explores the United States’ past – and deals with “great issues of our day.”

The prize comes with $100,000.