If internationally famous pop artists tend to be out of touch, singer-turned-actress Leslie Grace is a striking exception. Though calling in from Florida to chat about In the Heights, the forthcoming film version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s urban ode, the Bronx-born powerhouse immediately acknowledges the surrounding public-health pandemonium. “How are you taking everything?” she asks. “I’ve seen all my fans up [in New York] prepping, so I’m curious.”

About those fans: While In the Heights is Grace’s first real acting gig, she’s been a hot commodity in the Latin-pop ecosystem since her teens. A Grammy nominee who signed her first record deal at 16, she frequently appears alongside crossovers like J Balvin and Maluma. “I remember the first time I met Maluma,” she recalls. “We were performing on the same Telemundo late-night show. We were both babies!”

World-renowned pipes aside, Grace projects a harmonious relationship with the universe: Her role as Nina in the film, for example, smacks of predestiny. Though she spent much of her young life in Florida, Grace clocked various parallels between her own upbringing and that of her character, an overachieving beautician’s daughter. “Both my mom and [Nina’s mom] ran salons in the Heights. Her block was their block, basically. It’s crazy how life came around.”