In The Heights - Characters

Characters

• Usnavi, the owner of a bodega in Washington Heights. He was named after one of the first sights his parents saw when they arrived in America, a US Navy ship. He dreams of going to the Dominican Republic, his parents' homeland. Abuela Claudia, the neighborhood matriarch, practically raised him. He is in love with Vanessa.
• Abuela Claudia is the matriarch of the barrio who knows everybody and is like a grandmother to all ("abuela" means "grandmother" in Spanish). She is the one who looked after Usnavi when his parents died. She was moved from Cuba to New York when she was a child. She worked as a maid for several years but never earned the money for her and her mother to travel home.
• Vanessa is Usnavi's love interest who works at Daniela's salon. She is stunningly beautiful and catches the eye of every guy in the heights, however she takes interest in Usnavi. She lives with an alcoholic mother and dreams of getting out of the barrio and getting an apartment downtown, but cannot afford it.
• Nina Rosario is the daughter of Kevin and Camila. She is the first to go to college (Stanford University), and everyone in the barrio admires her. However, she returns home from school for the summer with difficult news to tell her parents. She is the typical "good girl" and always got along with her parents. However when she returns home she loses patience constantly over her father's overprotection and refusal to accept Benny.
• Benny works at Kevin's dispatch. The only non-Spanish-speaking member of the community, he falls in love with Nina. He dreams of opening his own business, "Benny's Car Service".
• Sonny is Usnavi's sassy, lazy, yet ambitious younger cousin who works in the bodega. He is typically the laughing stock of the Barrio, but he hides his intelligent and thoughtful side.
• Daniela is the outrageous owner of the salon where the neighborhood girls gossip. She is very bold and loud but loves to gossip and cares a lot about her employees, especially Carla, one of her oldest friends.
• Carla works at Daniela's salon along with Vanessa, and is Daniela's oldest friend.
• Kevin Rosario is Nina's father, wants to make sure his family has everything they want. He is overprotective of Nina and owns Rosario's Car Service.
• Camila Rosario is Nina's mother, who wants what is best for Nina. She is typically tolerant of Kevin's control issues, but in the course of the show, reveals her real feelings.
• The Piragua Guy (Piragüero) is the owner of a small piragua stand that competes with Mister Softee.
• Graffiti Pete is a graffiti artist and friend of Sonny. Usnavi believes he is a trouble-making vandal, but Pete is really a good-hearted artist.