"My mom is a white Jewish lady and my dad is black. 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."
Here’s one for the Hamilton fans! Daveed Diggs is an actor and musician who played the dual roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in the original cast of Hamilton. You may also have seen him in the TV shows Black-ish, The Get Down and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. He is also the singer and writer for the band Clipping. He was born in Oakland California and his parents named him ‘Daveed’, being the Hebrew pronunciation of ‘David’. Diggs would go on to identify strongly with both his mother’s Jewish identity and his father’s African-American identity. In 2020, Diggs produced a song for Chanukah titled ‘Puppy for Hanukkah’. Click here to have a listen!