Daveed Diggs

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Daveed Daniele Diggs (born January 24, 1982) is an American actor, rapper and singer. He is the vocalist of the experimental hip hop group clipping. and in 2015 originated the roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in the musical Hamilton, for which he won both a Grammy Award and Tony Award. Since leaving Hamilton in 2016, he has had a recurring role on the television series Black-ish, and co-starred in the film Wonder. Diggs has also created and stared in his own movie, Blindspotting.

Video Daveed Diggs

Early life and education

Diggs was born in Oakland, California. His mother is Jewish, and his father is African-American. 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." 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."

Diggs is an alumnus of Berkeley High School and Brown University, where he graduated in 2004, with a bachelor's degree in theatre arts. An elite athlete, he was originally recruited for his track skills, and excelled in the sport at Brown, while earning a degree in theatre. 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.

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Career

Theater

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. 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 Miranda'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. 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.

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

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. In 2017 they released The Deep, a five and a half minute track which tells the story of a society of slave descendants living underwater. In 2018 the song was nominated for a Hugo award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form).

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

In 2010 he made a duo album with Rafael Casal titled The BAY BOY Mixtape. Diggs also founded a hip hop triumvirate with Chinaka Hodge and Casal known as The Getback. The Getback later became a collaborative ensemble composed of Diggs, Hodge, Casal and a number of other artists along with a band formed by drummer Chukwudi Hodge, turntablist Dion Decibels and Max Miller-Logan on trumpet and Keys. Though the band have diversified themselves from their work with the ensemble, they are still known as The GetBack (Get:Band) on Facebook. 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. Both The BAY BOY Mixtape. and Small Things to a Giant included other artists in The Getback collective. As of 2016,

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.

Television

Diggs has had recurring roles on the series The Get Down, Black-ish, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Diggs served as an executive producer of the ABC series The Mayor. In addition, he wrote original music for it, as well as guest starring on it. He will also star in the upcoming television adaption of Snowpiercer.

In early 2018, Diggs was featured in several television commercials for the Zelle digital payment service.

Film

Diggs had his Hollywood film debut in the Disney animated film Zootopia, for which he wrote and performed the "Parlez Vous Rap".

Diggs appeared in the 2017 film Wonder, starring Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson. Diggs played the schoolteacher of the protagonist, a boy with a facial deformity.

Diggs had a voice role in the animated film Ferdinand, in which he played the character Dos.

Alongside his lifelong friend Rafael Casal, Diggs co-wrote, co-produced, and co-starred in the 2018 film Blindspotting, which premiered at Sundance in January 2018. The film was released in the U.S. on July 27, 2018. Diggs plays Collin, a felon living in Oakland, as he tries to get through the last 4 days of his year long probation without incident. Diggs and Casal wrote the film over a period of nine years, hoping to tell a story about their quickly-gentrifying hometown as they knew it. Diggs received critical praise for his performance in the film.

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Stage

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Filmography

Film

Television

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Discography

• The BAY BOY Mixtape (2010) - collaboration with Rafael Casal
• Small Things to a Giant (2012)

With clipping.

• Dba118 (2012) - EP
• midcity (2013)
• Something They Don't Know b/w Mouth (2014) - single
• CLPPNG (2014)
• Wriggle (EP) (2016) - EP
• REMXNG (2016) - EP
• Splendor & Misery (2016)

With True Neutral Crew

• #MONSANTO (2013) - EP
• #POPPUNK (2014) - EP
• soft rules (2016)

Featured artist

• The Monster (2009) - featured on "Running Down" & "Wise Guys"
• Mean Ones (2012) - additional vocals
• Hamilton (2015) - original Broadway cast recording
• Thumbs (2015) - featured on "Surrounded by Millionaires"
• Good For You (2016) - single; featured rapper
• Maiden Voyage Suite (2016) - EP by Sir Benedick the Moor; featured on 1200am
• x Infinity (2016) - featured on Exquisite Corpse

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Concerts

• midcity promotional concerts (5 shows, in the US and UK, Feb. 19, 2013 - Mar. 18, 2014)
• CLPPNG Tour (19 shows, in the US and the UK, Jul. 3 - Nov. 10, 2014)
• #POPPUNK promotional concerts (3 shows, in the US, Jul. 17, 2014 - Jun. 5, 2015)

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Awards and nominations

Honors

On May 28, 2017, an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree was conferred upon Diggs, during the 249th commencement ceremony at Brown University, his alma mater.

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References

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External links

• Official website
• Daveed Diggs at the Internet Broadway Database
• Daveed Diggs at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Daveed Diggs on IMDb

Source of article : Wikipedia