Daveed Diggs

Daveed Diggs

Diggs at the White House in 2016
Born Daveed Daniele Diggs
(1982-01-24) January 24, 1982
Oakland, California, United States
Nationality American
Alma mater Brown University
Occupation Actor, rapper, singer
Years active 2006–present
Website Official website

Daveed Daniele Diggs[1] (born January 24, 1982) is an American actor and rapper. He is the vocalist of the hip hop group clipping., and originated the role of Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson in the 2015 musical Hamilton, for which he won a Grammy Award and a Tony Award in 2016.

Early life

Diggs was born in Oakland, California.[2] He has described his mother as Jewish[3] and his father as African-American.[3] His parents named him "Daveed," the Hebrew pronunciation of David. Diggs has said, "‘David’ means beloved in Hebrew... They spelled it with two E’s because my dad liked the look of it.”[3] His parents' ethnic/racial identities have contributed to his own self-identification: "The cultures never seemed separate—I had a lot of mixed friends. When I was young, I identified with being Jewish, but I embraced my dad’s side too.”[4]

Diggs is an alumnus of Berkeley High School and of Brown University, from which he graduated in 2004. He was originally recruited for his track skills and eventually earned a degree in theatre.[5] Diggs broke the Brown Bears' school record in the 110 meter hurdles as a sophomore when he finished with a time of 14.21 seconds.[6]

Career

Theatre

Diggs performed in a lot of experimental theatre early on, most notably when he was on the national tour for Marc Bamuthi Joseph's choreopoem, Word Becomes Flesh, about a nine-month pregnancy, through the eyes of a young, single father.[7][8] Aside from his experimental work, he frequently performed in regional Shakespeare productions.

Lin-Manuel Miranda later invited Diggs to read and hear early versions of Hamilton. Diggs was impressed by Lin's demos and obvious passion for the project, and saw that the concept was a perceptive use of the rap-musical medium. He became part of the musical and played the roles of Thomas Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette off-Broadway in 2015, continuing with the roles when the show was moved to Broadway later in the year.[9] For his performance, Diggs won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, as well as a 2016 Grammy Award for the cast album.[10]

Diggs played his final performance in the show on July 15, 2016.[11]

Music

Diggs is the vocalist of and writer for the experimental hip-hop and rap group clipping. The group was founded by William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes in 2009, with Diggs joining in 2010. The trio ultimately self-released their first mixtape album midcity in 2013 to fairly positive reviews, leading them to be signed to Sub Pop. They released their album CLPPNG in 2014, which was promoted with their CLPPNG Tour. In 2016, they released an EP titled Wriggle, followed by the album Splendor & Misery.

He is also a member of True Neutral Crew, alongside Brian Kinsman, Margot Padilla and Signor Benedick the Moor.[12] The group have released two EPs, #MONSANTO (2013)[13] and 2014's #POPPUNK,[14] as well as Live, a 20-minute short film of a live performance.[15] They released their debut album soft rules in 2016.

In 2010 he made a duo album with Rafael Casal titled The BAY BOY Mixtape. Two years later, in 2012, he released his first solo rap album, Small Things to a Giant, composed of entirely original music he had written. As of 2016, Diggs has been working on a new solo rap release, set for release at the end of the year.[9]

He is also a member of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail's freestyle rap group Freestyle Love Supreme, or FLS, which performs across the country.

His rapping has also been featured on tracks by Busdriver, George Watsky, Rafael Casal, and Leslie Odom, Jr., and he wrote and performed a rap number for the 2016 animated film Zootopia.

Theatre credits

Year Title Role Details
2004–08 Word Becomes Flesh Performer US Tour (also co-writer)
TBA In the Red and Brown Water TBA Regional
Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train Regional
The Tempest Regional
Troilus and Cressida Regional
Mirrors in Every Corner Regional
2015 Hamilton Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson off-Broadway
2015–16 Broadway

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2010 Rock Hard: The Rise and Fall of Sexual Detergent Neil Davis Short
2012 Yoga Boner Daveed Short
2014 Live Performer Short
2016 Zootopia Writer and performer: "Parlez-Vous Rap"
2016 #BARS Mixtape Musical Medley Vol. 1 Hobbes Short
2017 Wonder Mr. Browne Filming

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2014 Hobbes and Me Hobbes 8 episodes (web series)
2015–2016 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Counselor Henderson 2 episodes
2016 The Get Down Adult Ezekiel "Zeke" Figuero/Narrator[16] 5 episodes
2016 Black-ish Johan 3 episodes
2017 Tour de Pharmacy Young Slim Klingston

Discography

With clipping.

With True Neutral Crew

Featured artist

Concerts

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result
2015 Lucille Lortel Awards Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical Hamilton Won
Drama League Award Distinguished Performance Nominated
Theatre World Award Outstanding Debut Performance Won
2016
Tony Award Best Featured Actor in a Musical Won
Drama League Award Distinguished Performance Nominated
Grammy Award Best Musical Theater Album Won
Fred and Adele Astaire Award Best Male Dancer Nominated
Broadway.com Audience Awards Favorite Featured Actor in a Musical Nominated
Favorite Funny Performance Nominated
Favorite Breakthrough Performance (male) Won

References

  1. ↑ "Daveed Diggs Theatre Credits and Profile".
  2. ↑ "Daveed Diggs leaps to Broadway stardom in 'Hamilton'".
  3. 1 2 3 Hoffman, Barbara (18 July 2015). "'I went from couch-surfing to starring on Broadway'". New York Post.
  4. ↑ Henderson, Kathy. "Daveed Diggs on His Hebrew School Roots, Meeting Crazy Celebrities & Getting His Shot on Broadway in Hamilton". Broadway.com.
  5. ↑ "Daveed Diggs was a track star at Brown University. Now he's a rap star in Hamilton on Broadway.". 17 February 2016.
  6. ↑ Raman, Sheela (September 22, 2004). "Senior profile: Daveed Diggs". Brown Daily Herald. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  7. ↑ "Word Becomes Flesh". Living Word Project.
  8. ↑ "Daveed Diggs". Playbill. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  9. 1 2 theneedledrop (2016-04-03), TND Podcast #44 ft. Daveed Diggs, retrieved 2016-04-03
  10. ↑ Plitt, Amy; Reilly, Phoebe (June 13, 2016). "20 Best, Worst and WTF Moments at 2016 Tony Awards". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
  11. ↑ Viagas, Robert. "Daveed Diggs' Post-Hamilton Plate Starts to Fill Up - Playbill". Playbill.
  12. ↑ Miserachi, Raquel (May 15, 2014). "TRUE NEUTRAL CREW: #POPPUNK". Noisey. VICE. Retrieved May 27, 2016.
  13. ↑ Fantano, Anthony (September 9, 2013). "True Neutral Crew - #MONSANTO". The Needle Drop. Retrieved May 27, 2016.
  14. ↑ Tucker, Simon (July 9, 2014). "True Neutral Crew: #POPPUNK – album review". Louder Than War. Retrieved May 27, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Watch This: True Neutral Crew Release 20 Minute Short Film Of Themselves Playing Live". Louder Than War. November 14, 2014. Retrieved May 27, 2016.
  16. ↑ "7 Things We Learned at Baz Luhrmann's 'Get Down' Talk". Rolling Stone. 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2016-05-26.

External links

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