Three groomsmen stand to the right of the groom and three bridesmaids stand to the left of the bride in this wedding in Kep, Cambodia.

A groomsman is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony. The term usher is more common in the UK while the term 'groomsman' is more commonly used in America. Usually, the groom selects his closest friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be selected. From his groomsmen, the groom usually chooses one to serve as best man.

For a wedding with many guests, the groom may also ask other male friends and relatives to act as ushers without otherwise participating in the wedding ceremony; their sole task is ushering guests to their seats before the ceremony. Ushers may also be hired for very large weddings.

In a military officer's wedding, the roles of groomsmen are replaced by swordsmen of the sword honor guard. They are usually picked as close personal friends of the groom who have served with him. Their role includes forming the traditional saber arch for the married couple and guests to walk through.

Duties[link]

The groom, his best man, and two ushers.

The most visible duty of the groomsmen is helping guests find their places before the ceremony and to stand near the groom during the wedding ceremony.

Additionally, the groom may request other kinds of assistance, such as planning celebratory events such as a bachelor party, also called Stag Night or Buck's Night; helping make the wedding pleasant for guests by talking with people who are alone or dancing with unaccompanied guests or bridesmaids, if there is dancing at a wedding reception; or providing practical assistance with gifts, luggage, or unexpected complications. Groomsmen may also participate in local or regional traditions, such as decorating the newlywed couple's car.

Bridegroom-men formerly had important duties. The men were called bride-knights, and represented a survival of the primitive days of marriage by capture, when a man called his friends in to assist to "lift" or kidnap the bride, or from the need to defend the bride from would-be kidnappers.^[1][2][3]

Best man[link]

The best man is the chief assistant to the groom at a wedding and the third most important in attendance after the Bride and Groom. In most modern, English-speaking countries, the groom extends this honor to someone who is close to him, generally his oldest and closest male friend. When the groom wishes to give this honor to a woman, she may be termed the best woman or best person, or may still be referred to as the 'best man'. The bride's equivalent of the best man is the bridesmaid, or the maid/matron of honor. A gender-neutral term is honor attendant. During a wedding ceremony the best man stands next to the groom, slightly behind him. This means that the four people present at the Altar are the religious attendant (such as a Priest), the Bride, Groom and Best Man. This is common in some western countries, although in others the best man and bridesmaid participate on an equal footing.

While the best man's required duties are only those of a friend, in the context of a western white wedding, the best man will typically:

• assist the groom on the wedding day,
• keep the wedding rings safe until needed during the ceremony,
• stand next to the groom during the ceremony,
• act as a legal witness to the marriage and therefore sign the marriage certificate, and
• prepare a "Best Mans speech" to be read at the reception.

In various cultures[link]

The best man, or honor attendants in general, are not universal customs.^[4] Even in places where a best man is customary, the role may be quite different when compared to other areas or times.

• In Uganda a best man is expected to guide the newlyweds in the ways of marriage. This means that ideally a best man must be married, preferably to one wife, and should be in position to give sound, tried and tested advice. A best man must be a confidant and be discreet about the details he shares with the new couple.
• In Bhutan the best man presents himself at the wedding as a ceremonial guardian to both bride and groom. Thereafter he entertains the guests, sometimes for several hours.
• In Eastern Orthodox weddings in Greece, the best man is often also the koumbaros, or religious sponsor, and is traditionally the groom's godfather.^[4] The koumbaros (or koumbara, if a woman) is an honored participant who crowns the couple and participates in circling the altar three times. In some areas, this person also pays for all the wedding expenses.
• In Ukraine a best man is responsible for guarding the bride during the wedding festivities. When he or the groom steps away, the bride gets "kidnapped" or has a shoe stolen. Then the groom or the best man must pay a ransom in exchange for returning the bride, usually by paying money (which is given to the bride) or by doing something embarrassing.^[5]
• In India, there are different customs in different states. In Hindu marriages of north India, the best man is always with the groom one or two days prior to the wedding. He cares for the groom's wedding attire and items and sees that the groom is not stressed. The counterparts from the bride's side always try to tease or try to come to terms with the groom's best man. The groom's pair of shoes is something which the bride's side eyes on the wedding day. Usually the shoes are stolen during the wedding lunch or some religious ceremony and hidden at a secured location completely under control of the bride's team. The groom's best man and his team are responsible for searching and stealing them back unbeknownst to the bride. If they fail, a small cash ransom is negotiated between the groom and his best man and the bride's counterparts. The shoes are then returned to the groom.^[6].

There is another tradition in Indian/Pakistani weddings to have a Sarbala or Shahbala (Assistant bridegroom).

• In Poland and Germany, the best man is literally called a "witness" and, along with the maid of honour (who is also called a witness), signs the book of marriages in a church or the marriage license at a secular ceremony. The best man is not necessarily expected to be the main organizer of anything specific but rathers serves as a wingman to the groom helping out where needed. Traditionally there is only one groomsman along with only one bridesmaid and they sit directly behind the soon to be married couple during the church ceremony. Germany has recently dropped the requirement that two named witnesses be present at secular marriage ceremonies and the mainline protestant Evangelical Church in Germany has followed, but many couples still bring them. The Roman Catholic Church in Germany has kept the requirement of two witnesses for religious marriages it performs. After marriage, the two witnesses' legal role ends, however they are, or were, culturally expected to keep an eye open for the well-being of the marriage and to offer help if it is in danger.

Bachelor party[link]

In the past, the bachelor party was typically scheduled for a convenient evening during the week before the wedding. A type of farewell dinner, it was always hosted, and therefore organized and paid for, entirely by the groom.^[7] The dinner was seen as the groom's last chance to entertain his friends as a single man; after the wedding, dinner parties at his home would always be presided over by his wife in her role as hostess.

Common slang names for this event are bachelor party, stag do or bucks' night in different parts of the world. In many areas, this dinner is now most commonly organized by the best man, and the costs can be shared by all of the participants, or all of the participants except the groom, who becomes the guest of honor.^[8]

See also[link]

• Bridesman

References[link]

Look up best in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The Best may refer to:

Film and television[link]

• Best (film), a 2000 George Best biopic
• The Best (UK TV series), a 2002 cooking programme on BBC2
• Best: His Mother's Son, a 2009 made-for-TV drama about George Best's mother

Places[link]

• Best, North Brabant, Netherlands
• Best, Texas, United States
• Best Township, Ontario, Canada

Music[link]

• The Best (band), a music supergroup featuring Keith Emerson, John Entwistle and others
• Mclusky, a band formerly known as Best
• "The Best", a song by …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead from their 2005 album Worlds Apart
• "The Best" (song), a 1989 song by Tina Turner
• Best (Chicosci album)
• Best (Kenny G album)
• Best! (Jellyfish album)
• Best (Robert Earl Keen album), 2006
• Best (Mika Nakashima album)
• Best, an album by The Clark Sisters
• The Best (Dan Seals album)
• The Best (t.A.T.u. album), 2006
• The Best (Bonnie Tyler album), 1993
• The Best (Despina Vandi album), 2001
• The Best (George Clinton album)
• The Best (Leo Kottke album)
• The Best (VHS), a 1993 video by Bonfire
• The Best (David Lee Roth album)
• The Best, a compilation album by New Model Army
• The Best, title of the international version of Janet Jackson's Number Ones compilation album (2009)
• The Best, a compilation album by Bonnie Tyler
• Best Of (Christina Milian album), 2006
• Best Of (Tokio Hotel album), 2010
• The Best of Goldfinger, a compilation album by American band Goldfinger
• Best Of (Between the Buried and Me album)
• Blur: The Best Of, 2000
• Best Of (Vanilla Ninja Album)
• Best-Of (Anggun album)
• Best (High and Mighty Color album)
• Best Of (Chapter One 1997–2004)
• Best Of (Doro album)
• Best Of (Mano Negra), 1998
• Best Of (RBD album), 2008
• Best Of (Roch Voisine album), 2007
• Best Of... (Sia album), 2012
• Best Of (The Cardigans album), 2008
• Best Of (Voice of the Beehive album)

People[link]

• Best (surname), people with the surname Best
• Best (Portuguese footballer) (born 1968)
• Dave (Best) Hughes (born 1986)
• Puppa Isthebest

Companies and organizations[link]

• Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain

• Best Lock Corporation, a lock manufacturer
• Best Manufacturing Company, a farm machinery company
• Best Products, a chain of catalog showroom retail stores
• Board of European Students of Technology, a student organisation
• Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport, a public transport and utility provider

Other uses[link]

• Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature, a project to assess global temperature records
• The Best (PlayStation range), PlayStation budget range in Japan
• Best bitter, a type of beer
• Best disease, a disease of the eye
• Best High School (disambiguation)
• BEST Robotics, a student competition
• BioEthanol for Sustainable Transport
• Bootstrap error-adjusted single-sample technique, a statistical method
• Bringing Examination and Search Together, a European Patent Office initiative
• Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training, a program of the Sustainable South Bronx organization

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Men

Left to right from top: Hafez · David · Ban Ki-moon · Chinhua Achebe · Aryabhata · Händel · Confucius · Kofi Annan · Chief Joseph · Plato · Ronaldo · Albert Einstein · Errol Flynn · Mohandas Gandhi · Ole Henrik Magga · an American farmer · Adam · Vitruvian Man · Man with child · Heracles with Telephus

In English, lower case man (pl. men) refers to an adult human male (the term boy is the usual term for a human male child or adolescent). Sometimes it is also used as an adjective to identify a set of male humans, regardless of age, as in phrases such as "men's rights". Although men typically have a male reproductive system, some intersex people with ambiguous genitals, and biologically female transgender people, may also be classified or self-identify as a "man".

The term manhood is used to refer to masculinity, the various qualities and characteristics attributed to men such as strength and male sexuality.^[1]

Etymology[link]

Symbol of the planet/Roman god Mars, also used to indicate the male sex.

The English term "man" is derived from Old English mann. The Old English form had a default meaning of "adult male" (which was the exclusive meaning of "wer"), though it could signify a person of unspecified gender. The closely related "man" was used just as it is in Modern German to designate "one" (e.g., as in the saying Man muss mit den Wölfen heulen).^[2] The Old English form is derived from Proto-Germanic *mannaz, "persona", which is also the etonym of German Mann "man, husband" and man "one" (pronoun), Old Norse maðr, and Gothic manna. According to Tacitus, the mythological progenitor of the Germanic tribes was called Mannus. The Germanic form is in turn derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *manu-s "man, person", which is also the root of the Indian name Manu, mythological progenitor of the Hindus.^[3]

Age and terminology[link]

The term manhood is used to describe the period in a human male's life after he has transitioned from boyhood, having passed through puberty, usually having attained male secondary sexual characteristics, and symbolises a male's coming of age. The word man is used to mean any adult male. In English-speaking countries, many other words can also be used to mean an adult male such as guy, dude, buddy, bloke, fellow, chap and sometimes boy or lad. The term manhood is associated with masculinity and virility, which refer to male qualities and male gender roles.

Biology and gender[link]

Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man displays the proportions of a man.^[4]

Humans exhibit sexual dimorphism in many characteristics, many of which have no direct link to reproductive ability, although most of these characteristics do have a role in sexual attraction. Most expressions of sexual dimorphism in humans are found in height, weight, and body structure, though there are always examples that do not follow the overall pattern. For example, men tend to be taller than women, but there are many people of both sexes who are in the mid-height range for the species.

Some examples of male secondary sexual characteristics in humans, those acquired as boys become men or even later in life, are:

• more pubic hair
• more facial hair
• larger hands and feet than women
• broader shoulders and chest
• larger skull and bone structure
• greater muscle mass
• a more prominent Adam's apple and deeper voice
• a longer shinbone

Sexual characteristics[link]

In mankind, the sex of an individual is generally determined at the time of fertilization by the genetic material carried in the sperm cell. If a sperm cell carrying an X chromosome fertilizes the egg, the offspring will typically be female (XX); if a sperm cell carrying a Y chromosome fertilizes the egg, the offspring will typically be male (XY). Persons whose anatomy or chromosomal makeup differ from this pattern are referred to as intersex.

This is referred to as the XY sex-determination system and is typical of most mammals, but quite a few other sex-determination systems exist, including some that are non-genetic.

The term primary sexual characteristics denotes the kind of gamete the gonad produces: the ovary produces egg cells in the female, and the testis produces sperm cells in the male. The term secondary sexual characteristics denotes all other sexual distinctions that play indirect roles in uniting sperm and eggs. Secondary sexual characteristics include everything from the specialized male and female features of the genital tract, to the brilliant plumage of male birds or facial hair of humans, to behavioral features such as courtship.

Biological factors are not sufficient determinants of whether a person considers themselves a man or is considered a man. Intersex individuals, who have physical and/or genetic features considered to be mixed or atypical for one sex or the other, may use other criteria in making a clear determination. There are also transgender or transsexual men, who were born or physically assigned as female at birth, but identify as men; there are varying social, legal and individual definitions with regard to these issues. (See transman.)

Reproductive system[link]

Human male reproductive anatomy and surroundings.

The male sex organs are part of the reproductive system, consisting of the penis, testicles, vas deferens, and the prostate gland. The male reproductive system's function is to produce semen which carries sperm and thus genetic information that can unite with an egg within a woman. Since sperm that enters a woman's uterus and then fallopian tubes goes on to fertilize an egg which develops into a fetus or child, the male reproductive system plays no necessary role during the gestation. The concept of fatherhood and family exists in human societies. The study of male reproduction and associated organs is called andrology.

Karyogram of human male using Giemsa staining. Human males typically possess an XY combination.

Sex hormones[link]

In mammals, the hormones that influence sexual differentiation and development are androgens (mainly testosterone), which stimulate later development of the ovary. In the sexually undifferentiated embryo, testosterone stimulates the development of the Wolffian ducts, the penis, and closure of the labioscrotal folds into the scrotum. Another significant hormone in sexual differentiation is the Anti-müllerian hormone, which inhibits development of the Müllerian ducts.

Illnesses[link]

In general, men suffer from many of the same illnesses as women. In comparison to women, men suffer from slightly more illnesses.^{[citation needed]} Male life expectancy is slightly lower than female life expectancy, although the difference has narrowed in recent years.

For males during puberty, testosterone, along with gonadotropins released by the pituitary gland, stimulates spermatogenesis, along with the full sexual distinction of a human male from a human female, while women are acted upon by estrogens and progesterones to produce their sexual distinction from the human male.

Masculinity[link]

The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (December 2010)

Michelangelo's David is the classical image of youthful male beauty in Western art.

Enormous debate in Western societies has focused on perceived social, intellectual, or emotional differences between women and men. These differences are very difficult to quantify for both scientific and political reasons.

Masculinity has its roots in genetics (see gender).^[5][6] Therefore while masculinity looks different in different cultures, there are common aspects to its definition across cultures.^[7] Sometimes gender scholars will use the phrase "hegemonic masculinity" to distinguish the most dominant form of masculinity from other variants. In the mid-twentieth century United States, for example, John Wayne might embody one form of masculinity, while Albert Einstein might be seen as masculine, but not in the same "hegemonic" fashion.

Machismo is a form of masculine culture. It includes assertiveness or standing up for one's rights, responsibility, selflessness, general code of ethics, sincerity, and respect.^[8]

Anthropology has shown that masculinity itself has social status, just like wealth, race and social class. In western culture, for example, greater masculinity usually brings greater social status. Many English words such as virtue and virile (from the Latin and Sanskrit roots vir meaning man) reflect this.^[9][10] An association with physical and/or moral strength is implied. Masculinity is associated more commonly with adult men than with boys.

A great deal is now known about the development of masculine characteristics. The process of sexual differentiation specific to the reproductive system of Homo sapiens produces a female by default. The SRY gene on the Y chromosome, however, interferes with the default process, causing a chain of events that, all things being equal, leads to testes formation, androgen production and a range of both pre-natal and post-natal hormonal effects covered by the terms masculinization or virilization. Because masculinization redirects biological processes from the default female route, it is more precisely called defeminization.

There is an extensive debate about how children develop gender identities.

In many cultures displaying characteristics not typical to one's gender may become a social problem for the individual. Among men, some non-standard behaviors may be considered a sign of homosexuality, while a girl who exhibits masculine behavior is more frequently dismissed as a "tomboy". Within sociology such labeling and conditioning is known as gender assumptions and is a part of socialization to better match a culture's mores. The corresponding social condemnation of excessive masculinity may be expressed in terms such as "machismo" or "testosterone poisoning."

The relative importance of the roles of socialization and genetics in the development of masculinity continues to be debated. While social conditioning obviously plays a role, it can also be observed that certain aspects of the masculine identity exist in almost all human cultures.

The historical development of gender role is addressed by such fields as behavioral genetics, evolutionary psychology, human ecology and sociobiology. All human cultures seem to encourage the development of gender roles, through literature, costume and song. Some examples of this might include the epics of Homer, the King Arthur tales in English, the normative commentaries of Confucius or biographical studies of the prophet Muhammad. More specialized treatments of masculinity may be found in works such as the Bhagavad Gita or bushido's Hagakure.

Culture and gender roles[link]

Pope Benedict XVI is the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, a position that is reserved for men only.

Well into prehistoric culture, men are believed to have assumed a variety of social and cultural roles which are likely similar across many groups of humans. In hunter-gatherer societies, men were often if not exclusively responsible for all large game killed, the capture and raising of most or all domesticated animals, the building of permanent shelters, the defense of villages, and other tasks where the male physique and strong spatial-cognition were most useful.^{[citation needed]} Some anthropologists believe that it may have been men who led the Neolithic Revolution and became the first pre-historical ranchers, as a possible result of their intimate knowledge of animal life.^{[citation needed]}

Throughout history, the roles of men have changed greatly. As societies have moved away from agriculture as a primary source of jobs, the emphasis on male physical ability has waned. Traditional gender roles for working men typically involved jobs emphasizing moderate to hard manual labor (see Blue-collar worker), often with no hope for increase in wage or position. For poorer men among the working classes, the need to support their families, especially during periods of industrial change and economic decline, forced them to stay in dangerous jobs working long arduous hours, often without retirement. Many industrialized countries have seen a shift to jobs which are less physically demanding, with a general reduction in the percentage of manual labor needed in the work force (see White-collar worker). The male goal in these circumstances is often of pursuing a quality education and securing a dependable, often office-environment, source of income.

United States Presidents George H. W. Bush, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter. While no law reserves the Presidency for men, all United States Presidents have been men thus far.

The Men's Movement is in part a struggle for the recognition of equality of opportunity with women, and for equal rights irrespective of gender, even if special relations and conditions are willingly incurred under the form of partnership involved in marriage. The difficulties of obtaining this recognition are due to the habits and customs recent history has produced. Through a combination of economic changes and the efforts of the feminist movement in recent decades, men in some societies now compete with women for jobs that traditionally excluded women. Some larger corporations have instituted tracking systems to try to ensure that jobs are filled based on merit and not just on traditional gender selection. Assumptions and expectations based on sex roles both benefit and harm men in Western society (as they do women, but in different ways) in the workplace as well as on the topics of education, violence, health care, politics, and fatherhood - to name a few. Research has identified anti-male sexism in some areas (a concept which must be distinguished and differentiated from the traditional anti-female sexism in its ubiquity and impact) which can result in what appear to be unfair advantages given to women.

The Parsons model was used to contrast and illustrate extreme positions on gender roles. Model A describes total separation of male and female roles, while Model B describes the complete dissolution of barriers between gender roles.^[11] The examples are based on the context of the culture and infrastructure of the United States. However, these extreme positions are rarely found in reality; actual behavior of individuals is usually somewhere between these poles. The most common 'model' followed in real life in the United States and Great Britain is the 'model of double burden'.^{[clarification needed]}

Exclusively male roles[link]

Some positions and titles are reserved for men only. For example, the position of Pope in the Roman Catholic Church is reserved for men only, as is its priesthood. Men are often given priority for the position of monarch (King in the case of a man) of a country, as it usually passes to the eldest male child upon succession.

See also[link]

Gender studies portal

• Masculinity
• Lists of men
• Trans man
• Sex assignment
• Women

Medical:

• Andrology
• Masculine psychology, discipline of
• Men's health
• Gender differences
• Virility (social traits of men)
• Virilization
• Y-chromosomal Adam

Dynamics:

• Machismo
• Male chauvinism
• Patriarchy
• Sexism
• Misandry

Political:

• Fathers' rights
• Masculism
• Men's movement
• Men's studies
• Men's Rights
• New Soviet man
• Gender and sexuality studies

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Andrew Perchuk, Simon Watney, Bell Hooks, The Masculine Masquerade: Masculinity and Representation, MIT Press 1995
• Pierre Bourdieu, Masculine Domination, Paperback Edition, Stanford University Press 2001
• Robert W. Connell, Masculinities, Cambridge : Polity Press, 1995
• Warren Farrell, The Myth of Male Power Berkley Trade, 1993 ISBN 0-425-18144-8
• Michael Kimmel (ed.), Robert W. Connell (ed.), Jeff Hearn (ed.), Handbook of Studies on Men and Masculinities, Sage Publications 2004

External links[link]

Look up man in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Man

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Men

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".^[1]

Early life[link]

Diggs was born in Newark, New Jersey but grew up in Rochester, New York,^[2] the son of Marcia (née Berry), a teacher and actress, and Jeffries Diggs.^[3] 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.^[4][5] 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[link]

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.^[6] 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.^[7] 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.^[8] 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.

Personal life[link]

Diggs married Rent co-star actress Idina Menzel on January 11, 2003. Their son, Walker Nathaniel Diggs, was born on September 2, 2009. He also co-owns and co-directs a dance company, dre.dance with fellow Broadway veteran, Andrew Palermo.^[9]

Filmography[link]

TV credits[link]

Awards and honors[link]

In popular culture[link]

• 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".

References[link]

Notes

External links[link]

• Taye Diggs' official website
• Taye Diggs on Twitter
• 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

Stephen Merchant
Merchant in 2009
Born	Stephen James Merchant (1974-11-24) 24 November 1974 (age 37) Bristol, England
Occupation	Actor Director Writer Radio presenter Comedian
Years active	1998–present
Height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)

Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English writer, director, radio presenter, comedian, and actor. He is best known for his collaborations with Ricky Gervais, as the co-writer and co-director of the popular British sitcom The Office, as the co-writer, co-director and a co-star of Extras, and as the co-host of The Ricky Gervais Show in its radio, podcast, audiobook and television-show forms. The Ricky Gervais Show in radio form has won a bronze Sony Award.

Merchant appeared in the BBC TV series Life's Too Short in which he co-wrote and co-directs. He also voiced the character Wheatley in the popular 2011 video game Portal 2, co-developed Sky TV travel series An Idiot Abroad, and performs as a stand-up comedian. He has won three BAFTA Awards, four British Comedy Awards, and an Emmy.

Early life[link]

Merchant was born in Bristol, England, the son of Jane Elaine (née Hibbs), a nursery nurse, and Ronald John Merchant, an insurance representative.^[1] He attended Hanham High School. As he has described in Xfm London shows and podcasts, Merchant was a very shy child, tending to focus more on school work as opposed to sport. His school yearbook predicted that he would enjoy success.

Merchant is a graduate of the University of Warwick, and a former film reviewer on the student radio station, Radio Warwick, where he began his broadcasting career^[2]. The station's 1995/96 yearbook tipped him for great things:

Members of Merchant's "posse" included film critic James King, Dan Warren, Neil the Maskell and Geraint the Welshman. Recently, a number of tapes of "The Steve Show", recorded at the time, have been rediscovered and are being distributed on various Merchant fansites.^[3] He graduated with a 2:1 in Film and Literature in 1996.

Career[link]

Pre-2001[link]

Merchant began his career performing stand-up comedy at Bristol's Comedy Box, where, he recalls, "The first week I did really well ...The second week I died on my arse. I realised that stand-up was not that easy after all." He also appeared as a contestant on a 1997 episode of the TV game show Blockbusters and worked for a short time as a DJ for Radio Caroline.

Merchant met Ricky Gervais for the first time in 1997, when Gervais (then in the position of "Head of Speech" at the London radio station Xfm) hired Merchant as his assistant. (Gervais said later that he had called Merchant for an interview simply because it was the first CV handed to him.) Merchant and Gervais hosted a Saturday afternoon radio show together from January through to August 1998, when both of them left XFM as it was bought by the Capital Radio Group. In the same year, Merchant was a finalist at the Daily Telegraph Open Mic Awards.

Merchant did a total of 7 years on XFM 104.9. The Saturday show never had a large audience; Gervais says "It's a tin pot radio station... It's not even the biggest radio station in the building." Merchant created the features 'Hip Hop Hooray', 'Make Ricky Gervais laugh' and 'Song for the Ladies.'

After leaving XFM, Merchant began a production course at the BBC. As part of his coursework, he enlisted Gervais to perform in a 30-minute short film, "Seedy Boss," which became the earliest inspiration for their sitcom The Office. They collaborated on a sitcom pilot called Golden Years featuring a manager suffering a mid-life crisis; the pilot aired on Channel 4's Comedy Lab series in September 1998, but failed to find further success.

[edit] 2001–03 (The Office and return to XFM)

In mid-2001, BBC Two aired the first series of The Office, co-written and co-directed by Merchant and Gervais and starring the latter as paper sales office manager David Brent; the show initially received low ratings. Beginning in September, Merchant and Gervais returned to Xfm as co-hosts of The Ricky Gervais Show, another Saturday afternoon programme, which led to their fruitful relationship with producer Karl Pilkington.

They took a break from the radio show in mid-2002 in order to film the second series of The Office, which aired that year; in addition to writing and directing the show, Merchant made a cameo performance in the episode "Charity" as a friend of Gareth Keenan's character known by the name Oggy or Oggmonster. (Merchant's father also appears in multiple episodes as an office handyman named Gordon.) Merchant also directed a sitcom pilot called The Last Chancers, which aired on Comedy Lab in November 2002 and became a five-part series broadcast in December on E4.

Merchant and Gervais continued to host The Ricky Gervais Show through 2003, taking another break to film the Office Christmas special, which aired that December. The radio show went off the air indefinitely in January 2004. During 2004, Merchant appeared in a recurring role as a chef on Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and in a cameo on Green Wing, and served as a script associate on the Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker sitcom Nathan Barley. The same year, The Office aired in the U.S to critical acclaim. It went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy which both Merchant and Gervais accepted.

This was followed in 2005 by a 4th series of the radio show, consisting of six episodes.

[edit] US series of The Office

In March 2005, the American version of The Office premiered, with Merchant and Gervais credited as executive producers. They would later co-write the third-season episode "The Convict", and Merchant would direct the fifth-season episode "Customer Survey".^[4]

Podcast series[link]

In December 2005, with sponsorship by The Guardian, Merchant, Gervais and Pilkington began recording a weekly podcast (also called The Ricky Gervais Show).^[5] Throughout its first series (through 20 February 2006), the podcast was consistently ranked the most popular in the world, and was certified as the most-downloaded of all time by Guinness World Records. Two more series and three special instalments (the "Podfather Trilogy") were recorded in 2006, with the final episode released on Christmas Eve. In late 2008, they recorded four more podcasts and began a series of audiobooks examining Pilkington's perspective on various subjects.

[edit] Extras

In July 2005, following a brief return of the XFM radio show (filling in for Adam and Joe), Gervais and Merchant's new sitcom Extras premiered on BBC2. The series features Merchant in a supporting role as Darren Lamb, the incompetent agent to struggling actor Andy Millman, played by Gervais. Series 2 of Extras aired in late 2006, followed by a Christmas special in December 2007; all three instalments aired on HBO in the United States. Merchant won a 2006 British Comedy Award for Best TV Actor for his performance as Lamb.^[6]

[edit] The Steve Show

Merchant in January 2011

In January 2007, Merchant began hosting his own radio show on BBC 6 Music, airing weekly on Sunday afternoons.^[7] Instead of comedy, The Steve Show focused on music and particularly "new music," defined by Merchant as "music you've not heard before." Many of the songs on the show were suggested by listeners or co-presenters. In addition to Merchant, the show featured several of his friends, including his housemate Dan, his childhood friend Harry, and actor Rufus Gerrard-Wright (who also appeared in an episode of Extras). A spring search for a "she-J" resulted in the addition of former Byker Grove actor Sammy T. Dobson^[8] joining the ensemble. "The Steve Show" aired for four seasons and concluded in May 2009.

Stand-up[link]

Merchant began performing stand-up comedy in the late 1990s to critical success, though he decided to focus more on his work with writing partner Ricky Gervais after the success of The Office. Merchant returned to stand-up with a nationwide tour of the United Kingdom in September 2011, under the title Hello Ladies.^[9] The tour was later released on DVD.

Other work[link]

Merchant has played small roles in the films Hot Fuzz (2007), Run Fatboy Run (2007), and The Invention of Lying (2009), the latter starring Ricky Gervais. He has a supporting role in the 2009 film Tooth Fairy. On television, Merchant made a cameo appearance in a non-speaking role on the sixth season premiere of 24; he also starred as a sports commentator in the unaired pilot No Skillz. Additionally, Merchant has provided the voice-over since 2009 of advertisements for Barclays and Waterstone's.

In 2009, Merchant and Gervais collaborated on the film Cemetery Junction, set in working-class England in the 1970s. The film was released in April 2010 to generally mixed to positive reviews.

In September 2010, Merchant produced a television show alongside Ricky Gervais starring Karl Pilkington called An Idiot Abroad.

In July 2010, filming finished for the pilot of Life's Too Short, written by Ricky Gervais and Merchant, who will both cameo alongside the show's star, Warwick Davis.^[10] In 2011, he lent his voice to the CGI film Gnomeo and Juliet, and had a role in the Farrelly brothers' comedy Hall Pass.

In January 2011, Merchant appeared at the 'Free Fringe Benefit' at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London. A show of stand-up to benefit the Free Fringe at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival, alongside comedians Jeremy Hardy, Michael Legge, Robin Ince, Mitch Benn, Isy Suttie, Bennett Arron, Andy Zaltzman and founder Peter Buckley Hill. He also stated on the recent free podcast The Ricky Gervais Guide to...Comic Relief that he will be touring his first solo stand up tour later in the year.

On Film 2011's Questionnaire feature, broadcast on 2 March 2011, Merchant described his favourite film as The Apartment (1960), his guilty pleasure as Con Air (1997), the film he cried at as The Bridges of Madison County, and the film he didn't get as The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.^[11]

Merchant provides the voice of Wheatley in Valve's 2011 video game Portal 2,^[12] a role which earned him widespread acclaim among reviewers.^[13] While he states his work on the project as "exhausting", Merchant is also "very pleased by the response people have had to it. What I was really pleased by how people seemed to respond to it in the way they do with a movie they've enjoyed, or a TV show they've enjoyed."^[14]

Filmography[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

Video games[link]

Awards[link]