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Questlove Biography

Birth Name:Ahmir Khalib Thompson

Birth Place:Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Profession Soundtrack, Actor, Producer, Music department, Director

Fast Facts

Won a Grammy Award for best rap performance by a duo or group for "You Got Me" in 2000
Won a Grammy Award for best traditional R&B vocal performance for "Wake Up!" in 2011
His father was the titular frontman of Lee Andrews & the Hearts, and both of his parents were in the soul group Congress Alley
Began drumming at the age of 2 and began performing as the drummer for his father's band on tour at the age of 8
Met Tariq Trotter, who would come to be known as Black Thought, while they were students at the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, forming The Square Roots in 1987
Started out as a musical director at the age of 13 and was only 22 when he landed his first record deal with The Roots
Recorded his independent debut record "Oraganix" with The Roots in 1993 so that they would have something to sell at an upcoming hip-hop festival in Germany
Quote: "The music originally evolved to paint portraits of real people and handle real problems at close range ․․․ but these days, hip-hop mainly rearranges symbolic freight on the black starliner ․․․ hip-hop has lost some of its pertinent sting․"
Best known as a drummer and DJ who is the co-frontman, with Black Thought, of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" in-house band The Roots
In summer 2013, released his memoir "Mo' Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove․"
Known for producing albums for such artists as John Legend, Jay-Z, Elvis Costello and Erykah Badu
For the ESPN debut of "Monday Night Football" in 2006, he was personally selected by Steve Van Zandt to perform in an updated version of Hank Williams Jr․'s "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight․"
Since they couldn't afford expensive DJ equipment, he and Tariq Trotter used only vocals and drumbeats, a style that would help develop the musical style of neo-soul
The Roots' third album, "Things Fall Apart," is named after the Chinua Achebe book by the same name

Awards

2012Guldbagge-Best Music (Bästa musik): winner
2015Black Reel-Outstanding Original Song: nominated
2017ACCA-Best Original Song: nominated
2021BIFF Award-Best Music Documentary: winner
2021Critics' Choice Documentary Award-Best Director: winner
2021Critics' Choice Documentary Award-Best First Documentary Feature: winner
2021Gotham Independent Film Award-Best Documentary: nominated
2021Image Award-Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance (Motion Picture): nominated
2021IDA Award-Best Episodic Series: nominated
2021Chantel Akerman Award-Best Experimental Documentary: nominated
2021Sierra Award-Breakout Filmmaker of the Year: nominated
2021"Co Jest Grane 24" Big Screen Doc Award-: nominated
2021Chopin's Nose Award-: nominated
2021Audience Choice Award-Special Presentations: winner
2021John Schlesinger Award-Documentary: winner
2021Audience Award-Documentary: winner
2021Grand Jury Prize-Documentary: winner
2021Audience Award-Best Foreign Documentary: winner
2022Oscar-Best Documentary Feature: winner
2022BAFTA Film Award-Best Documentary: winner
2022Black Reel-Outstanding Documentary: winner
2022Black Reel-Outstanding Emerging Director: nominated
2022CIC Award-Best Independent Film: nominated
2022CIC Award-Best Documentary Film: winner
2022Cinema Brazil Grand Prize-Best Foreign-Language Film (Melhor Filme Estrangeiro): nominated
2022Cinema Eye Honors Award-Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film: nominated
2022Cinema Eye Honors Award-Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking: nominated
2022Cinema Eye Audience Choice Prize-: nominated
2022Cinema Eye Honors Award-Outstanding Achievement in Direction: nominated
2022DGA Award-Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary: nominated
2022FOCAL Award-Best Use of Footage in a Cinematic Feature: winner
2022Independent Spirit Award-Best Documentary: winner
2022Gold Derby Film Award-Documentary Feature: nominated
2022Grammy-Best Music Film: winner
2022Image Award-Outstanding Breakthrough Creative (Motion Picture): nominated
2022ICS Award-Best Documentary: nominated
2022IDA Award-Best Director: winner
2022IDA Award-Best Music Documentary: winner
2022IDA Award-Best Feature: nominated
2022LEJA Award-Best Documentary Feature: nominated
2022NDFS Award-Best Documentary Feature: nominated
2022SFCS Award-Best Documentary Feature: winner
2025Black Reel-Outstanding Documentary: nominated
2025Gotham TV Award-Outstanding Original Film, Broadcast, or Streaming: nominated
2025Indiemusic Schweppes Award-: nominated
2025IDA Award-Best Music Documentary: nominated
2025Primetime Emmy-Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special: nominated
2026Cinema Eye Honors Award-Outstanding Achievement in Broadcast Film: nominated