Profile Text
Diggs in 2016, photo by prphotos.com
Birth Name: Daveed Daniele Diggs
Place of Birth: Oakland, Alameda, California, United States
Date of Birth: January 24, 1982
Ethnicity: * father – African-American * mother – Ashkenazi Jewish
Daveed Diggs is an American actor, rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is the vocalist for experimental hip hop group Clipping. His roles include the musical Hamilton , as well as the films Wonder , Blindspotting , Velvet Buzzsaw , The Starling , and, in voice performance, Ferdinand , Soul , DC League of Super-Pets , The Little Mermaid (2023), and Trolls Band Together ; the series The Get Down , Black-ish , Sesame Street , Snowpiercer , The Good Lord Bird , Extrapolations , and, in voice-over, Undone , Star Wars Resistance , Central Park , Star Trek: Prodigy , and The Crossover ; and the made-for-tv movie Tour de Pharmacy .
His father, Dountes Darnell Diggs, is African-American, and originally from El Cerrito, California. His mother, Barbara, who is caucasian, is Jewish, and originally from Haskell, New Jersey. Daveed went to Hebrew school. The name Daveed means “beloved” in Hebrew. Daveed has one child with his partner, actress and singer Emmy Raver-Lampman .
Of his religion, he has said :
I am Jewish… I was raised as a more practising Jew than I am now. But still, [it was] this particular Berkeley brand of Judaism that’s pretty lax…
I am Jewish… I was raised as a more practising Jew than I am now. But still, [it was] this particular Berkeley brand of Judaism that’s pretty lax…
Daveed’s paternal grandmother has the surname Williams.
Daveed’s maternal grandfather is Melvin Needell/Needle (the son of Hyman Needell/Needle and Hannah Silver). Melvin was born in Bronx, New York. Hyman was born in Bilohiria, Ukraine to Reuben Needell and Sophie Kessler. Hannah was born in Vyshnivets, Ukraine to Alter and Hinda Silver.
Daveed’s maternal grandmother is named Flora Forman (the daughter of Abraham Forman and Dora Farbstein). Flora was born in Brooklyn, New York. Abraham was born in Łomża, Poland. Dora was born in Mława, Poland to Jona Farbstein and Bina Nachowitz.
Sources: http://nypost.com http://www.broadway.com myheritage.com