Colman Domingo
Colman Jason Domingo (born November 28, 1969) is an American actor, playwright, and director. Prominent on both screen and stage, he has received various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, and nominations for an Academy Award and two Tony Awards (Triple Crown of Acting). Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2024.[1]
Colman Domingo
- Actor
- playwright
- director
1995–present
Domingo's early Broadway roles include the 2005 play Well and the 2008 musical Passing Strange. He gained acclaim for his role as Mr. Bones in the Broadway musical The Scottsboro Boys (2011), for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. He reprised the role in the 2014 West End production, being nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical. In 2018, he wrote the book for the Broadway musical Summer: The Donna Summer Musical.
After early roles in various incarnations of the Law & Order series and as part of the main cast for The Big Gay Sketch Show, he had his breakthrough playing Victor Strand in the AMC series Fear the Walking Dead (2015–2023).[2] He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his performance as the recovering drug addict Ali on the HBO series Euphoria (2019–present).
Domingo's film appearances include supporting roles in Lincoln (2012), Selma (2014), If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020), and The Color Purple (2023). For his role as a ruthless pimp in Janicza Bravo's Zola (2021), he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male. His portrayal of civil rights activist Bayard Rustin in the Netflix film Rustin (2023) earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Early life and education[edit]
Domingo was born and raised as the third of four children in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[3] Domingo was raised by his mother Edith Bowles and her husband[4][5] in a working-class household.[3] His mother was a homemaker and worked in a bank,[6] his stepfather Clarence[7] sanded floors for a living.[3] Edith passed away in 2006, the day after Domingo's audition for the theater musical Passing Strange.[4][8] His stepfather had died a few months earlier.[8]
Domingo's biological father was from Belize with relatives from Guatemala.[9] He left the family when Domingo was nine years old.[3]
Domingo had a speech impediment, a lisp,[10] as a child and was sent to speech therapy classes by his mother.[8]
Domingo attended Overbrook High School and later Temple University,[11][12] where he majored in journalism. Soon thereafter he moved to San Francisco, California, where he started acting, mainly in theatre productions.[12][13]
Career[edit]
1994–2010: Early roles[edit]
Domingo starred as Mr. Franklin Jones, Joop, and Mr. Venus in the critically acclaimed rock musical Passing Strange,[14] which, after a successful 2007 run at The Public Theater, opened on Broadway on February 28, 2008. He received an Obie Award[15] in spring 2008 as part of the ensemble of Passing Strange Off-Broadway and reprised his roles in the film version of Passing Strange, directed by Spike Lee, which made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. In 2010, Domingo's self-penned, one-man autobiographical play A Boy and His Soul premiered Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre, for which he won a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show.[16] He was also nominated for a Drama Desk Award[17] and a Drama League Award.[18] Domingo starred as a replacement role as Billy Flynn in Chicago, the longest running revival on Broadway.[19]
During this time Domingo also acted in numerous television series. He made his television debut in the police procedural Nash Bridges in 1997 and made numerous appearances on the series. He took a small role in Clint Eastwood's True Crime (1999) and acted in the independent films Desi's Looking for a New Girl (2000), Kung Phooey (2003), and the crime drama Freedomland (2006). He also took minor roles in Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and Law & Order: Trial by Jury. He also acted in the sketch series The Big Gay Sketch Show from 2008 to 2010.
2011–2017: Rise to prominence[edit]
Domingo earned acclaim in the final collaboration by Kander and Ebb, The Scottsboro Boys,[20] directed by Susan Stroman on Broadway in Fall 2010. For that role he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in May 2011.[21] When The Scottsboro Boys[22] opened in London in Fall 2013, Domingo was nominated[23] for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical in April 2014. He was nominated for the Fred Astaire Award for Best Principal Dancer on Broadway in 2011.
Domingo collaborated with Spike Lee appearing in his films Miracle at St. Anna (2008) and Red Hook Summer (2012). He appeared as Private Harold Green in Steven Spielberg's historical epic Lincoln (2012). The following year he appeared in the civil rights films 42 (2013) playing Lawson Bowman and The Butler (2013) as Freddie Fallows. In 2014 he appeared in Ava DuVernay's civil rights film Selma portraying activist and Baptist minister Ralph Abernathy.
In 2015, Domingo began appearing in a recurring role on AMC's post-apocalyptic, zombie series Fear the Walking Dead, as a character named Victor Strand. In December 2015, it was announced that Domingo was promoted to series regular for Season 2 of the series.[24] That same year he had a recurring role as Dr. Russell Daniels in the Cinemax series The Knick. The following year he made appearances on Lucifer and Louis C.K.'s self-streaming show Horace and Pete. In 2017, Domingo joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a member of the Actors' Branch.[25] In 2018, Domingo joined the Directors Guild of America[26] as a director of episode 12 of season 4 of Fear The Walking Dead.[27] He is the first ever actor in The Walking Dead universe to helm an episode.[28] In 2020, Domingo signed a first-look deal with AMC Networks.[29]
2018–present: Established actor[edit]
In 2018 he appeared in Barry Jenkins' If Beale Street Could Talk, a film adaptation of the James Baldwin 1974 novel of the same name. In the film he plays Tish's father, Joseph Rivers. His on-screen wife is played by Regina King who received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year he collaborated with Sam Levinson, acting in the black comedy film Assassination Nation playing Principal Turrell. The following year Levinson cast Domingo in a recurring role as Ali, a recovering drug addict in the HBO drama series Euphoria. In 2020 he received acclaim for his role as Cutler in the Netflix adaptation of August Wilson's play Ma Rainey's Black Bottom starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman. He also received attention for his role as X, a ruthless pimp in the crime film Zola directed by Janicza Bravo. For his role as X he received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male. In 2022 he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his role in Euphoria.
Domingo starred as civil rights activist Bayard Rustin in the 2023 Netflix film Rustin directed by George C. Wolfe. Upon the announcement of his being cast in the lead role, the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice, an LGBTQIA safe-space, community activist center, and educational bridge dedicated to honoring Bayard Rustin through their mission and good works, voiced their approval directly to Domingo, espousing that "Your powerful voice helps amplify Bayard Rustin, Godfather of Intersectionality, Planned the March, Brought non-violence to the Movement, Inspired the Freedom Riders, Lost to history because of who he loved, Who he was. Angelic Troublemakers unite!"[30] For his performance he received nominations for the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor.
Also in 2023, he appeared as Mister in the movie musical adaptation of The Color Purple directed by Blitz the Ambassador. The film received positive reviews along with a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. He also voiced the DC Comics superhero Batman in the Spotify scripted podcast The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark.[31] Domingo portrayed John "Divine G" Whitfield in the film Sing Sing which premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and which was picked up by A24 for distribution in 2024.