Biography
Ahmir Khalib Thompson (born on January 20, 1971), known professionally as ?uestlove or Questlove (also known as BROther ?uestion, Questo or Brother Question), is an American drummer, DJ, music journalist and record producer. He is best known as the drummer for the Grammy Award-winning band The Roots, which is now the in-house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. He has produced for artists such as Common, D'Angelo, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Bilal, Jay-Z, Nikka Costa and more recently, Al Green,...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues
2025
Spinal Tap, England's loudest and most punctual band, reunite following a 15-year hiatus for one final concert.

I Was Born This Way
2025
as Self
Surviving childhood abuse during his upbringing in Baltimore, Archbishop Carl Bean forged a path to New York and Hollywood to do the one thing he knew...

I Was Born This Way
2025
Executive Producer
Surviving childhood abuse during his upbringing in Baltimore, Archbishop Carl Bean forged a path to New York and Hollywood to do the one thing he knew...

We Want the Funk!
2025
as Self
Stanley Nelson's syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, from early roots to 1970s urban funk and beyond.

SNL50: The Homecoming Concert
2025
as Self
Live from Radio City Music Hall, witness the concert of a lifetime with a star-studded lineup bringing together legendary Saturday Night Live hall-of-...

Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music
2025
Director, Writer, Executive Producer
Untold stories behind the culture-defining and newsmaking musical performances, sketches and cameos of the past 50 years.

SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)
2025
Director, Executive Producer
An examination of the life and legacy of Sly & The Family Stone – the groundbreaking band led by the charismatic Sly Stone – that captures the band's ...

Jimmy Fallon's Holiday Seasoning Spectacular
2024
as Self
Jimmy and his friends present a hour long special inspired by his album, "Holiday Seasoning".

Bilal: Live at Glasshaus
2024
as Self
Bilal: Live at Glasshaus is a tribute to Bilal’s extraordinary vocal and musical range, as well as his status as one of the most unsung innovators in ...

Music Box: Yacht Rock: A DOCKumentary
2024
as Self
This documentary chronicles the rise, fall, and rise again of the soft rock epitomized by artists such as Christopher Cross, Michael McDonald, Kenny L...

A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop
2023
as Self
A once-in-a-lifetime live concert special celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, the two-hour tribute special features exclusive performances fr...

A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop
2023
Executive Producer
A once-in-a-lifetime live concert special celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, the two-hour tribute special features exclusive performances fr...

American Symphony
2023
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Musician Jon Batiste attempts to compose a symphony as his wife, writer Suleika Jaouad, undergoes cancer treatment.

May The Lord Watch: The Little Brother Story
2023
as Himself
May the Lord Watch follows the rise, breakup, and reunion of Little Brother, detailing the vast impact of the preeminent 2000’s rap group.

The League
2023
Executive Producer
The triumphs and challenges of Negro League baseball in the early 20th century. Through rare footage and interviews with iconic players like Satchel P...

The Legacy of J Dilla
2023
as Self (archive footage)
In his short lifetime, J Dilla was a musician, producer and visionary who profoundly influenced rap and hip-hop. Given how prolific he was in his 32 y...

Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes
2023
as Self
The Drum Waltzes explores the life and music of legendary drummer, activist Max Roach, his creative peaks, personal struggles and re-inventions from t...

Descendant
2022
Executive Producer
History exists beyond what is written. The Africatown residents in Mobile, Alabama, have shared stories about their origins for generations. Their com...

The Reverend
2022
Winner of the DOC NYC Audience Award, Director Nick Canfield’s first film follows gospel-rock icon and activist Reverend Vince Anderson. After enterin...

Hargrove
2022
as Self
Jazz trumpet legend Roy Hargrove, deemed by his peers as a musical prophet, up close and personal like you have never seen him before. The film follow...

2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
2021
as Self
Filmed at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio, the 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony honors inductees: Tina Turner, Carol...

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
2021
as Self (uncredited)
During the same summer as Woodstock, over 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival, celebrating African American music and culture, and pr...

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
2021
Director
During the same summer as Woodstock, over 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival, celebrating African American music and culture, and pr...

Sesame Street: 50 Years of Sunny Days
2021
as Self - Guest
For more than a half-century, Sesame Street has addressed and explained diversity, equity, and inclusion around the globe by using the universal tools...

Chris Rock Total Blackout: The Tamborine Extended Cut
2021
as Self (archive footage)
Chris Rock takes the stage filled with searing observations on fatherhood, infidelity and politics.

Soul
2020
as Curly (voice)
Joe Gardner is a middle school teacher with a love for jazz music. After a successful audition at the Half Note Club, he suddenly gets into an acciden...

Herb Alpert Is...
2020
as Self
From the success of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, through the founding of A&M Records, to giving away more than $150 million to arts and education ...

One World: Together at Home
2020
as Self
A global broadcast & digital special organized by Global Citizen and the World Health Organization featuring comedians, musicians, and actors to raise...

The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show
2020
as Self
For one week in February 1968, Johnny Carson gave up his chair to Harry Belafonte, the first time an African-American had hosted a late night TV show ...

Never Too Late: The Doc Severinsen Story
2020
as Self
After three decades as the colorful bandleader to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, master trumpeter Doc Severinsen defies nature with a relent...

Siempre, Luis
2020
as Self
A story that embodies the tenacity and passion of the American Dream, this documentary is a portrait of the pioneering activist Luis A. Miranda Jr. Lu...

Stucco
2019
Music
An agoraphobic woman notices a strange hole growing in a wall of her home as she fights off a growing illness.

Devil's Pie: D'Angelo
2019
as Self
D'Angelo had it all: two platinum selling albums, a sold out world tour and a body chiselled to perfection. However, one day at the height of his care...

Someone Great
2019
as Questlove
An aspiring music journalist lands her dream job and is about to move to San Francisco when her boyfriend of nine years decides to call it quits. To n...

Boy Band
2019
as Alien
Decades after their last hit, the Heartthrob Boyz find themselves out of time, out of cash, and out of shape as they attempt to finish the album they ...

Rock Rubber 45s
2018
as Self
A cinematic odyssey exploring the connectivity of global basketball, sneaker, and music lifestyle through the firsthand lens of authentic NYC culture ...

Mr. SOUL!
2018
as Self
On the heels of the Civil Rights Movement, one fearless black pioneer reconceived a Harlem Renaissance for a new era, ushering giants and rising stars...

Twenty Eighteen Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
2018
as Self
Recorded live, this special honors fivenew performer category inductees: Bon Jovi, The Cars, Nina Simone, The Moody Blues and Dire Straits.

Dave Matthews Band - Concert for Charlottesville
2017
A Concert for Charlottesville was a benefit concert held on September 24, 2017, organized by the Dave Matthews Band to raise funds for the victims kil...

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
2016
as Ahmir-Khalib Thompson
When his new album fails to sell records, pop/rap superstar Conner4real goes into a major tailspin and watches his celebrity high life begin to collap...

All Things Must Pass
2015
as Self
The explosive trajectory and tragic demise of iconic music retailer Tower Records, and the legacy of its rebellious founder Russ Solomon. Two hundred ...

Top Five
2014
Original Music Composer, Executive Music Producer
Though he began in stand-up comedy, Andre Allen hit the big-time as the star of a trilogy of action-comedies about a talking bear but now he wants to ...

Mr. Dynamite - The Rise of James Brown
2014
as Self
James Brown changed the face of American music forever. Abandoned by his parents at an early age, James Brown was a self-made man who became one of t...

Finding the Funk
2014
as Self
Finding the Funk is a road trip in search of the past, present and future of Funk music. Starting with Funk's roots in Jazz and the James Brown bands ...

Sample This
2013
as Self
A documentary that reveals how a forgotten record by the Incredible Bongo Band helped cement the foundation of hip hop when DJ Herc extended its percu...

A Band Called Death
2013
as Self
Before Bad Brains, the Sex Pistols or even the Ramones, there was Death. Formed in the early '70s by three teenage brothers from Detroit, Death is cre...

Our Vinyl Weighs a Ton: This Is Stones Throw Records
2013
as Self
Under the direction of founder and world-renowned DJ Peanut Butter Wolf, Stones Throw Records has consistently released critically acclaimed, left-of-...

Bad 25
2012
as Self
Spike Lee pays tribute to Michael Jackson's Bad on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the epochal album, offering behind-the-scenes footage of Jackson re...

Yo! The Story of ‘Yo! MTV Raps’
2012
as Self
A provocative look into the seven-year history of the series that gave hip hop a voice and broke color barriers, integrating MTV with rap. "Yo! MTV Ra...

Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest
2011
as Self
Having forged a 20-year run as one of the most innovative and influential hip hop bands of all time, the Queens NY collective known as 'A Tribe Called...

My Mic Sounds Nice: A Truth About Women and Hip Hop
2010
as Self
Ava DuVernay focuses on the history of female MCs in the hip hop industry in this short documentary that features Missy Elliott, Salt-N-Pepa, Eve, Jea...

Downtown Calling
2009
as Self
In the late 1970s, the "greatest city in the world" was teetering on the edge of total chaos. A failed economy, crime and en mass housing corruption g...

Am I Black Enough for You
2009
A creative documentary about the song recorded by soul-man Billy Paul in the 70's. But also about the Philly Sound, Philadelphia, racism, cocaine, mon...

Before the Music Dies
2006
as Self - Musician: The Roots (as Questlove)
B4MD tells the story of American music at this precarious moment. Filmakers Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen traveled the country, hoping to understa...

September in Brooklyn: The Making of Block Party
2006
as Self
Behind the scenes look at Dave Chappelle's Block Party.

Dave Chappelle's Block Party
2005
as Self (The Roots)
The American comedian/actor delivers a story about the alternative Hip Hop scene. A small town Ohio mans moves to Brooklyn, New York, to throw an unpr...

And You Don't Stop: 30 Years of Hip-Hop
2004
as Self
The film documents the development of hip hop culture since its inception in the 1970s. With interviews from various figures in the community such as ...

Brown Sugar
2002
as Self
Sidney and Dre can attribute their lifelong friendship and the launch of their careers to one single childhood instant... witnessing the birth of hip-...
Jay-Z: MTV Unplugged
2001
as Self
H to the Izzo, V to the Izza. That's right, "H.O.V.A." is descending onto the Unplugged scene, and things will never be the same. Get ready for an exp...
Jay-Z: MTV Unplugged
2001
Music Producer
H to the Izzo, V to the Izza. That's right, "H.O.V.A." is descending onto the Unplugged scene, and things will never be the same. Get ready for an exp...

Brooklyn Babylon
2001
as Member of The Lions
A charismatic rapper falls in love with a young Jewish girl despite the confines of her religious background.

All Access: Front Row. Backstage. Live!
2001
as Self
IMAX invites you backstage to the Rock n' Roll event of the year. The acts featured won a combined total of 13 Grammy® Awards in 2000. This exclusive,...

Bamboozled
2000
as Alabama Porch Monkeys: Levi - Musical Director
Frustrated when network brass reject his sitcom idea, producer Pierre Delacroix pitches the worst idea he can think of in an attempt to get fired: a 2...

Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool
1994
as Self
A musical documentary accompaniment to the 1994 benefit compilation album concerning AIDS in the African-American community.

Ferocious Drummers
N/A
FEROCIOUS DRUMMERS is the original groundbreaking documentary about the greatest rhythmic rebels, that was nearly lost forever. In this never-before-s...
Dilla Time
N/A
Executive Producer
Documentary about legendary hip-hop producer, J Dilla.

The AristoCats
N/A
Director
A live-action/CGI hybrid adaptation of the classic animated film 'The AristoCats'.
Untitled Earth, Wind & Fire Documentary
N/A
Director, Producer
Examines the legacy, cultural impact, and body of work of American R&B/punk/jazz/soul/disco band Earth, Wind & Fire, and will feature exclusive access...