Taye Diggs

Biography: Taye Diggs was born Scott Digs on January 2nd, 1972 in New Jersey. His family moved to upstate New York when he was a young child. Taye had four younger siblings, two brothers and two sisters. Currently, his two brothers are musicians, one sister is a dancer and the other is going to college to be a veterinarian. Growing up, his friends called him Scottaye, which was later shortened to Taye. Taye was originally very indecisive about his career, wanting to be an inventor, pediatrician, psychologist, sing opera, and be an actor. He went to Syracuse University receiving a BFA in musical theater. While performing in a showcase during his senior year of college, Taye was spotted by talent agent and landed his first professional job in a cast revival of musical "Carousel." For a brief period here, he worked at Disneyland in Tokyo. Taye then went on to star in Jonathon Larson's RENT as the yuppy scum landlord, Benjamin Coffin III. While with RENT, Taye received many TV roles a 1996 episode of Fox's "New York Undercover" and a recurring part as a slick music producer on the CBS daytime drama "Guiding Light". He received his first big screen role as Winston in "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" after a very successful screen test. He was nominated for Black Film Award in 1999 as Best Actor for his work and then appeared "Go" and "The Best Man." In 2001, he appeared as attorney Jackson Duper in several episodes of "Ally McBeal," which also starred his RENT costar Jesse L. Martin. For these he won a Nominated for NAACP Image Award in 2002 as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Ally McBeal. In 2002, Taye played Clerick Brandt in the sci-fi thriller "Equilibrium" and "Just a Kiss," which his, at that time fiance, Idina Menzel also appeared in. Taye returned to musical theater as The Band Leader in the big-screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical "Chicago." In 2004 he returned to television, playing the title character in "Kevin Hill," which Idina also appeared in. He received $80,000 per episode. He returned to the role of Benny for the 2005 RENT movie. He says he was original freaked out about working with Idina, but had an amazing time in the end. He preformed in a RENT 10th Anniversary benefit on 4/24/2006 in which the entire original cast came back for one special performance. Taye has been married to his long time girlfriend Idina Menzel since January 11, 2003. They have appeared together onstage in RENT, The Wild Party, and Wicked and he appears in her "Minuet" music video. They currently reside in New York. Taye and Idina want kids eventually, but are at this time focusing on their careers. He is also working on a new ABC TV series, the name of which has not yet been disclosed.… Expand