Taye Diggs as Hedwig

Photography by Joan Marcus

Is a black male sex symbol in lipstick, heels, and a wig that big a deal? Yup.

Taye Diggs is the first black actor to portray the fictional East German transgender rock star on Broadway, but he's not just any black actor. He is -- as author the New York Times's James Hannaham reminds us -- the man Ebony dubbed Diggs in 2005 the "black Clark Gable."

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