Taye Diggs

Taye Diggs
Born	Scott Leo Diggs (1971-01-02) January 2, 1971 Newark, New Jersey
Occupation	actor, singer
Years active	1994–present
Spouse(s)	Idina Menzel (2003–present)
Children	Walker Diggs

Scott Leo "Taye" Diggs (born January 2, 1971) is an American theatre, film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the Broadway musical Rent, the motion picture How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and the television series Private Practice. His nickname, Taye, comes from the playful pronunciation of Scotty as "Scottay".

Early life

Diggs was born in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in Rochester, New York, the son of Marcia (née Berry), a teacher and actress, and Jeffries Diggs. He attended Allendale Columbia School in Rochester and later transferred to School of the Arts. He starred in the first production of "It All Adds Up", an original musical by the piano teacher and musician John Gabriele and math teacher Jack Donovan. He is the oldest of five children; he has two brothers, Gabriel and Michael, and two sisters, Shalom and Christian. Diggs received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in musical theater from Syracuse University. He performed many times at the popular Lakes Region Summer Theatre in Meredith, New Hampshire. Diggs's Broadway debut was in the ensemble cast of the 1994 Tony Award-winning revival of the musical Carousel. In 1995, he also performed as a dancer in Sebastian's Caribbean Carnival at Tokyo Disneyland.

Career

In 1996, he originated the role of the nasty landlord Benny in Jonathan Larson's Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning Rent, which also starred his future wife, Idina Menzel. After Rent he appeared as Mr. Black alongside Idina Menzel's character of Kate in Andrew Lippa's off-Broadway production of The Wild Party at Manhattan Theatre Club. Diggs also played The Bandleader in the 2002 film version of the long-running Broadway revival of Chicago and filled in as Billy Flynn on Broadway. He also temporarily filled in for Norbert Leo Butz (an original Rent standby) as the love interest Fiyero of Idina Menzel's Elphaba character in Wicked.

Diggs then moved from stage to television, with a role on the soap opera Guiding Light. In 1998, he made his film debut in How Stella Got Her Groove Back. This movie brought Diggs much acclaim and exposure. The following year he played a tantric sex god in Doug Liman's Go, and an AWOL groom in the coming-of-age drama The Wood. Malcolm D. Lee's The Best Man features Diggs as the eponymous character, an author and best friend of the groom (portrayed by Morris Chestnut). He also starred in the remake of William Castle's The House on Haunted Hill. Diggs was featured in an episode of America's Next Top Model, to help the contestants through an acting challenge. Another notable role of his was when he guest starred on the comedy-drama Ally Mcbeal as a lawyer named Jackson Duper who was the love interest of the character Renee Raddick and also the possible love interest on the Ling Woo character.

Diggs portrayed the title character on the short-lived UPN television series Kevin Hill which despite critical acclaim was not renewed for a second season due to the troubles that UPN was having^{[citation needed]}. He reprised the role of Benny for the 2005 Rent film. Diggs is featured on the following cast recordings: Carousel 1994 revival cast; Rent 1996 original Broadway cast; The Wild Party original off-Broadway cast. He also sings on the Rent film soundtrack. In 2002, he reprised his role as the Bandleader in the film adaptation of Chicago, and also played opposite Christian Bale as Bale's partner/antagonist Brandt in the dystopian sci-fi thriller Equilibrium.

In 2003, Diggs was on Punk'd after being tricked by Ashton Kutcher, while getting a check-up at a Punk'd-operated doctor's office. In early 2006, Diggs guest-starred for several episodes as Will Truman's love interest, James, on the final season of Will & Grace. In May, ABC picked up his pilot, Day Break, in which he portrayed a detective trapped in the same day and forced to relive it to clear his name of murder; the show debuted in mid-November 2006, but was abruptly canceled due to poor ratings. Although his film and television career continue to move forward, he still returns to the stage frequently. Most recently he was seen alongside James McDaniel in Charles Fuller's A Soldier's Play at Second Stage Theatre in New York.

Diggs co-stars opposite Kate Walsh in Private Practice, the fall 2007 spin-off of Grey's Anatomy. Diggs had a guest role on The West Wing as a Secret Service agent in charge of the security detail for the President's daughter. He then guest-starred on Grey's Anatomy again in the Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice Crossover Event. Diggs stars in the live adaptation of the comic Dylan Dog: Dead of Night. He also narrated the ESPN Films documentary The Fab Five about University of Michigan basketball players Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson. Diggs is one of the stars of the independent film drama Between Us that won the grand jury prize at the 2012 Bahamas International Film Festival among its other festival appearances.

Personal life

Diggs married actress Idina Menzel, his Rent co-star, on January 11, 2003. Their son, Walker Nathaniel Diggs, was born on September 2, 2009.

Diggs is the co-artistic director of a dance company, Dre.dance, with fellow Broadway veteran and School of the Arts alumnus Andrew Palermo.

Diggs apprehended a burglar in his home after returning from the 2013 Screen Actors Guild Awards on the night of January 27, holding him captive until police arrived.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1998	How Stella Got Her Groove Back	Winston
1999	Go	Marcus
	The Wood	Roland
	The Best Man	Harper Stewart
	House on Haunted Hill	Eddie Baker
2000	The Way of the Gun	Jeffers
2002	New Best Friend	Artie Bonner
	Just a Kiss	Andre
	Brown Sugar	Andre Romulus 'Dre' Ellis	main role
	Equilibrium	Andrew Brandt
	Chicago	The Bandleader
2003	Basic	Pike
	Malibu's Most Wanted	Sean (aka Blood Bath)
2004	Drum	Henry Nxumalo
2005	Rent	Benjamin "Benny" Coffin III
	Cake	Hemingway Jones
2007	Slow Burn	Jeffrey Sykes
2008	Days of Wrath	Steve Lerato
2010	Our Family Wedding	(Family Friend)
2011	Dylan Dog: Dead of Night	Vampire Vargas
	The Fab Five	Narrator
2012	Between Us	Carlo
2012	Scooby-Doo! Music of the Vampire	Tommy
2013	The Best Man Holiday
2013	Baggage Claim

TV credits

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1996	New York Undercover	Stephon	Episode 50: No Greater Love
1997	Guiding Light	Adrian 'Sugar' Hill
2001	Ally McBeal	Jackson Duper	10 episodes
2003	Punk'd	Himself	Episode: 2.05
	Ed	Himself	Episode: "Captain Lucidity"
2003	The West Wing	Secret Service Agent Wesley Davis	Episodes: "Twenty Five", "Commencement"
2004	America's Next Top Model	Himself	1 episode
2004–2005	Kevin Hill	Kevin Hill
2006	Cake	Hemingway Jones
	Will & Grace	James	Episodes: "Grace Expectations", "The Definition of Marriage", "I Love L. Gay", "Von Trapped"
2006–2007	Day Break	Detective Brett Hopper
2007–2009	Grey's Anatomy	Dr. Sam Bennett	Episodes: "The Other Side of This Life: Part 1/Part 2" (Private Practice backdoor pilot), "Before and After"
2007–2013	Private Practice	Dr. Sam Bennett	111 episodes Season 1-6
2009	The Super Hero Squad Show	Black Panther	Voice
	Better Off Ted	Greg	Episode: Love Blurts

Awards and honors

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result
2000	Image Awards	Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture	The Best Man	Nominated
2002	Image Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series	Ally McBeal	Nominated
2003	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	Chicago	Won
	Image Awards	Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture	Brown Sugar	Nominated
2005	Image Awards	Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series	Kevin Hill	Won
2008	Image Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Private Practice	Nominated
2009	Image Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Private Practice	Won
2010	Image Awards	Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series	Private Practice	Nominated

In popular culture

• In 2012, in the "Dr. Klaustus" episode of the animated TV series American Dad, the character Roger the Alien sees a picture of Diggs in a magazine and comments that he's "still perfect." He refers to Diggs as "my constant, my ebony north star".

• On the NBC television series Parks and Recreation, he is often referenced by character Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari), who likens himself to Diggs explaining, "I'm a small, slender man, similar to actor Taye Diggs." Tom also fantasizes about "a burlesque nightclub that I co-own with actor Taye Diggs and two of the Pussycat Dolls."

• On the ABC/TBS television series Cougar Town, the character Laurie Keller is shown to have a crush on Taye Diggs - she describes his smile as one that "lights up the world." She has numerous pictures of him in her apartment.

References

Notes

External links

• Taye Diggs on Facebook
• Taye Diggs at the Internet Movie Database
• Taye Diggs at the Internet Broadway Database
• Taye Diggs at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Taye Diggs interview