Taye Diggs got his start in the professional performing arts world on stage, not on screen. He had a successful Broadway career with roles in Carousel and RENT before he appeared in his first TV roles in 1996. He has become such a prolific film and TV actor since then that many might forget that he’s a song and dance man first.

Diggs’ first big screen break was with the romance How Stella Got Her Groove Back in 1998. He’s been nonstop as an actor and writer ever since. In fact, in addition to all his work on screen, Diggs has also written four children’s books and founded a dance company. With all of his creative talent, it’s no wonder that he has worked on so many great movies and TV shows.

10 Murder In The First (2014-2016)

As Terry English

There are a lot of crime procedurals on television. In order to make a show stand out, it’s got to have something to hook viewers that is different from all the other crime procedurals out there. For Criminal Minds, it’s delving into the psychology of the suspects. For NCIS, it’s connecting crimes to the military. In the case of Murder in the First, it’s the fact that each season of the show only follows one case instead of using a case-of-the-week format.

The series only lasted for three seasons, but each of those seasons follows a very different investigation. The first is two separate murders that are actually linked, the second involves the investigation into a police officer’s death that uncovers corruption, and the final season involves the death of a football player. While each season involves a murder, they all take different investigative routes.

Diggs plays Inspector Terry English in the series. Not only is he a capable investigator, but he’s also a former Marine sniper. He is also grieving the death of his wife throughout the series, adding another layer to how he approaches death throughout the show.

9 Lip Sync Battle (2017, 2018)

As Himself

Diggs’ musical theater background makes him an energetic performer who knows how to keep the audience on his side.

Lip Sync Battle is not the kind of television show that needs an actor to play a role. They just have to be able to convincingly lip sync and dance to popular music and do a better job than any other celebrity participating in the show. Very few people have appeared on the show more than once. Taye Diggs, however, has appeared and won the competition twice.

Diggs first appeared in the third season up against Ne-Yo. It was memorable because he actually performed to Ne-Yo’s own song, “Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself).” His second appearance on the show was in the third season where he competed against Erika Jayne in a Christina Aguilera tribute episode. Diggs’ musical theater background makes him an energetic performer who knows how to keep the audience on his side.

Lip Sync Battle might be best known for giving the world Tom Holland performing Rhianna’s “Umbrella,” but Taye Diggs winning the show twice makes him a worthy competitor.

8 RENT (2005)

As Benjamin Coffin III

RENT received a lot of mixed reviews when it initially landed in theaters in 2005. The movie adapted Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway musical of the same name and even kept most of the original cast in the roles they originated on stage, despite it being filmed nearly a decade after the Broadway debut of the show.

Much of the criticism of the movie was for the script and just what cuts were made to story in order to streamline it for a movie release. The cuts angered Broadway fans but also meant some things were left out of the movie that helped parts of the story to make more sense. What couldn’t be criticized was the chemistry and the talent of the cast. Because so many of them had worked together on the original show, there was a built-in chemistry there.

Diggs played Benny, the landlord for most of the characters and the ex of Mimi, making him the movie’s antagonist for much of the story. Despite the criticisms of the movie, it’s a great showcase for Diggs’ talent as he doesn’t get to sing in many of his on-screen roles.

7 Private Practice (2007-2013)

As Dr. Sam Bennett

Private Practice was the first spin-off of the highly successful Grey’s Anatomy. The series followed a group of doctors with Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) as the show’s entry point from her experiences on Grey’s Anatomy. Unlike the flagship series, which followed doctors working at a hospital and involved emergency medicine on a regular basis, Private Practice, as the title implied, followed a smaller group of doctors at a private medical practice.

The show did one or two crossover episodes with Grey’s Anatomy per season, and many cast slowly rotated out of the show over the course of the six seasons. Diggs is one of five cast to remain from the beginning to the end of the show. Diggs’ character is one of the founders of the practice and specializes in internal medicine.

While the show is a medical procedural, like Grey’s Anatomy, it also focuses heavily on the relationships between the main characters. For much of the show, Sam works with his ex-wife and her best friend before starting to date said best friend. Their relationship dynamic helps to drive much of the series.

Diggs earned three NAA Image Award nominations for his role in Private Practice.

6 Chicago (2002)

As The Bandleader

Chicago is an interesting movie for Diggs because, like RENT, he actually played the same role on Broadway. During his run in Chicago, Diggs played the bandleader, but also understudied the lead of Billy Flynn. While Richard Gere played Flynn in the movie, Diggs got to return to the role of the bandleader again.

The musical follows what happens to two women who are accused of murder and the lawyer who defends them. The entire show, however, is set up like a big lounge act, in keeping with giving the audience “the old razzle dazzle” to keep them distracted from the actual murders that have taken place. It’s one of the best movie adaptations of a stage musical of all time.

Chicago was hugely successful. It was nominated for 13 Oscars, winning six of them, including Best Picture. Chicago was the first musical to do that since 1968.

5 The Best Man (1999)

As Harper Stewart

1999 was a very good year for Taye Diggs on the big screen. The Best Man is one of four movies he appeared in that year. He also appeared in House On Haunted Hill, The Wood, and Go. Some Diggs fans might argue that any one of those was a better project for Diggs, but The Best Man led to even more projects for him as he appeared in a sequel and series after.

Diggs plays the titular best man at his best friend’s wedding in the movie. The movie follows him as he’s preparing for the release of his novel before he reconnects with old friends and brings up old secrets. The novel, which his friends have an advanced copy of, is actually inspired by events from their past - including that he had a one-night-stand with the bride-to-be.

There’s plenty of drama in the reconnecting of old friends with secrets, but there’s also plenty of humor and romance here too, which is part of what makes it one of Diggs’ best projects. He gets to show all facets of his acting abilities.

4 Set It Up (2018)

As Rick

Diggs isn’t particularly well-known for appearing in romantic comedies, but his breakout role on the big screen was in the romance How Stella Got Her Groove Back. It’s surprising that he didn’t appear in a large string of romances after that.

Set It Up is a more recent addition to his resume, and it was praised for bringing the classic feel of romantic comedies back to audiences. Diggs doesn’t play one of the leads, but rather, the boss of one of the leads. Glen Powell and Zoey Deutch play a pair of assistants who scheme to get their bosses together after realizing a happy romantic relationship might get their bosses to leave them alone.

Diggs is paired with Lucy Liu and the two do have fantastic chemistry, despite them not being the primary leads of the movie.

3 All American (2018-2024)

As Coach Billy Baker

The series is inspired by a true story, but because it’s made for the CW, it also has a healthy dose of fictional drama mixed in. All American follows the story of a high school football player who pursues his dreams of playing professionally and those around him who help make it happen.

Diggs plays one of those people. He is the coach who recruits the football player to his Los Angeles High School, which sets him on his dream path. Diggs only appears in the first five seasons as a regular before appearing as a guest star after that.

Though the series hasn’t received consistently high ratings on the CW during its run, that’s not unusual for the network. Instead, the most successful of the CW’s shows actually have lucrative streaming deals due to their popularity outside of the United States. That’s exactly the case for All American, which has been a hit on Netflix.

All American produced a spin-off series called All American: Homecoming. It’s also been renewed for a seventh season, but that seventh season will not feature most of the same cast.

2 Empire (2016-2017)

As Angelo DuBois

Empire is one of the most successful series to air on FOX in recent years. It follows the Lyon family and those who work around them as they fight for control over the entertainment company that belongs to them. It’s a look at the (fictional) drama that can unfold in the music industry.

Over the course of its run, the show boasted some impressive guest stars. Rita Oro, Jason Derulo, Gladys Knight, Timbaland, and Snoop Dogg, among others appeared as themselves in the series.

Diggs doesn’t play one of the musical stars of the show. Instead, he plays a city councilperson. Originally, he’s romantically involved with Taraji P. Henson’s character, but when things go south between them, he schemes to take the Lyon family down. His character is killed off before that can happen. While he might not have the biggest role in the show, it’s one of Diggs’ most unique projects.

1 The Best Man: The Final Chapters (2022)

As Harper Stewart

...it allows each of these now much more experienced actors to reconnect with their characters and dig further into their lives...

One of the best things about the development of streaming platforms is the ability of those streamers to give fans the nostalgia they crave. While movie and TV fans can stream the things they love repeatedly, many platforms have also revisited classic stories. Peacock brought back the characters of The Best Man for a limited series.

The Best Man: The Final Chapters is about the same group of friends tackling new chapters in their lives. While the first movie was more like a coming-of-age story for the characters, this one deals with the hurdles of middle age. Couples have to redefine their relationships, make changes to their careers, and navigate parenting challenges.

This time around Diggs’ Harper is getting the chance to turn his best-selling novel into a movie. Just as the novel brought up secrets for the group of friends, the movie prospect sees them looking back on their lives.

Some will argue that the movie is the better project, but the series ranks higher because it allows each of these now much more experienced actors to reconnect with their characters and dig further into their lives, including Diggs. It’s Taye Diggs’ best series to date.