COURIER LIFE, JULY 23-29, 2021 23
OUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE BOROUGH OF KINGS
BY JESSICA PARKS
Award-winning Broadway and
movie star Anthony Ramos gifted a
surprise renovation to the high school
theater teacher who inspired him as
part of a new home makeover series
on CBS.
The Bushwick native, of “Hamilton”
and “In The Heights” fame, was
a natural on stage even when he was
a teenager, said Sara Steinweiss, the
southern Brooklyn educator who fi rst
got to know the star when he auditioned
for a musical as a junior at Bensonhurst’s
New Utrecht High School.
“He thought he was auditioning for
a talent show,” Steinweiss told Brooklyn
Paper, “but he was auditioning for
a full-scale musical.”
It was then, she said, she knew Ramos
was meant to be an actor — so she
encouraged the high school baseball
star to join New Utrecht’s theater program
as well.
“I basically told him that he was going
to be with me the rest of the time,
and made him become a part of the theater
program,” she said. “I just knew
that there was something extremely
special about Anthony, that he needed
to be doing this in his life.”
But, when it came time to graduation,
Ramos’ plans for college hit a roadblock.
“There was a lot going on in his home
and his life,” Steinweiss said. “He didn’t
get fi nancial aid papers in on time, and
things had fallen through for him.”
With Ramos thinking of alternatives
to higher education, his theater
teacher suggested he apply for
the American Musical and Dramatic
Academy, a private performing arts
conservatory college in Manhattan.
Determined to help keep Ramos on the
path to stardom, Steinweiss paid for
his application and vouched for him to
get a scholarship through a foundation
founded by Jerry Seinfeld.
He was accepted for both “and the
rest is pretty much written in history,”
she said. Since then, Ramos and
Steinweiss have been like family —
and with every new stage he takes, he
gives his former teacher-turned-friend
a front row seat.
“He invited me to everything, I
am at all the biggest and smallest moments,”
Steinweiss said. “I have been
at the opening night of ‘Hamilton,’ I
was recently at the premiere of ‘In the
Heights,’ which was unbelievable …
what a profound moment that entire
thing was.”
And now, over a decade letter, the
two got to take the small screen together
on a recently released episode
of CBS Secret Celebrity Renovation,
where Ramos gifts his beloved mentor
a home renovation — though, Steinweiss
said, her former student never
owed her a thing.
“He doesn’t owe me anything at all,”
she said. “My whole thing with anything
in life is I think the only thing
you owe somebody that does something
or you is to pay it forward to somebody
else and be a good person.”
In May, Steinweiss was whisked
away from the home she shares with
her mother and only returned once
renovations were completed. She arrived
to fi nd a completely revamped
bedroom, a new offi ce space, and a hip
backyard makeover she says only Ramos
would have been able to design for
her — and all of which she adores.
“It was a total surprise, I wasn’t expecting
it at all,” she said. “It wasn’t
easy giving up my sense of control but
I trust him so much I knew that there
probably wouldn’t be another person
that I would allow to do this.”
In the episode, which premiered
Friday, July 16, Ramos says he wanted
to give Steinweiss her own space, as
she lives with and takes care of her
mother. Contractors renovated the attic
space, where her bedroom is, replacing
Steinweiss’ twin beds with a
luxurious king-sized bed, and added
a personal offi ce next door. The team
also upgraded her backyard with a
pool and an entertainment space.
“She’s been an angel in my life,” Ramos
says in the episode. “She’s done so
much for me.”
“It really was focused around a
space for me,” Steinweiss said “I don’t
Class acts
Actor and artist
Anthony Ramos
surprises Brooklyn
theater teacher
with home reno
Anthony Ramos (second from right) with Jason Cameron, Nischelle Turner, Sara Steinweiss and Sabrina Soto. Ramos helps makeover the
Brooklyn home of his drama teacher, Steinweiss (center), on an emotional episode of “Secret Celebrity Renovation.” Mary Kouw/CNS
Continued on page 24