In Praise of Colman Domingo

Whether it’s Bette Davis hating on Joan Crawford, Blake Lively vs. Jason Baldoni, or even the “feud” between me and “Thindy Brady," people love it when actors who loathe and trash each other. (Latest example: that shocking Patti LaPone interview in the New Yorker!)

It’s certainly entertaining to read about actors driven by ego and one-upmanship. Alas, it’s a stereotype. The reality is far less exciting.

In truth, most actors don’t hate each other, nor do we resent others’ successes. Most of us cheer when one of us grabs the brass ring.

Case in point: Colman Domingo, the wildly well-dressed, extremely talented, twice-Oscar-nominated star of films like Sing Sing, The Color Purple, and Rustin, TV series Fear the Walking Dead and Euphoria, and who’s currently charming audiences in the Netflix series Four Seasons.

I’ve been following his career for the past few years, and his rapid rise to the top of the A-list makes me very happy for several reasons.

You see, way back in San Francisco in the 1990s, Colman and I shared the same agent – Belinda Irons of Top Talent. But our paths never crossed – until we shared a dressing room at San Francisco's renowned Theatre Rhinoceros in 1998.

Colman and two colleagues were performing the musical Up Jumped Springtime (which Colman also wrote) on the Mainstage upstairs, while I was debuting my solo show Last Sunday in June (years before Johnathan Tollins’ play of the same name) downstairs in The Studio.

Only a thin sheet suspended from the basement ceiling separated the Mainstage dressing  room from the Studio’s. They could hear me and director Jeffrey Hartgraves, and we could certainly hear them! He was always funny, with a great, positive energy, and a quick, full-throated laugh. He’d often pop his head through the curtain to wink at us if he heard us cracking up at some of his antics, or if Jeffrey or I got silly ourselves. His spirit was infectious and calmed my nerves and stage fright.

Up Jumped Springtime began at 8pm, while my curtain went up at 8:30. As I entered the dressing room, he was heading to the fire escape in the back of the theatre to begin his vocal warm-ups. I’d run out to the alley below for a cigarette and to listen to him before getting into my make-up. My God! His vocals were powerful. His warm-ups were more entertaining than many musicals I’ve seen!

Regretfully, I rarely interacted with him backstage. He was just too talented. Too handsome. Too divine. I was a latecomer, just beginning a professional stage career after dabbling in indie films and nightclubs. He was five years my junior, but already a seasoned, celebrated actor and playwright. I was too intimated to say much more than “hi!” or “have a great show!” He always replied graciously and with good humor and that dazzling smile.

Alas, we never saw his show (although my friends say it was amazing).

By the time I moved to Los Angeles in the early 2000s, I had lost track of Colman’s career; I was too busy focusing on re-establishing mine in La La Land! I had no idea how successful he had become, both on Broadway and in Hollywood.

Fast forward to 2015. I was watching Fear the Walking Dead. Suddenly, I saw a recognizable face.

“Oh my God,” I shouted to my husband Laurence, “That’s Colman Domingo!” I quickly pulled up his imdb page and was gobsmacked. The man had a list of credits a mile long! How did I not know this?

My next emotion was one of immediate dread. “Oh no,” I immediately assumed. “If he’s this successful, I bet he’s gone into the closet!”

Because the Hollywood powers-that-be still prefer actors be straight (although it’s better than it was in the 1990s, when a commercial casting director once told me I was too gay to ever be successful!). Plus, Black men have pressures from their community to conform to masculine stereotypes as well.

Another surprise! After just a little more online digging, I learned he was still out, loud, and proud! Which automatically makes him a superhero in my book. I was a born-again fan.

I mentioned his rise to my friends back in San Francisco. Where had I been? they all wondered. It turns out, Colman had been a superhero in the Bay Area for some time.

And rightly so!

Since stumbling upon him on Fear the Walking Dead, I’ve watched as he’s become even more wildly successful, with those aforementioned Oscar-nominated performances. He’s an absolute delight to watch on talk shows. And now he’s writing and directing films!

Let's return to my opening statement, that people love to hear about envious, jealous actors.

Naturally, friends occasionally will ask me, “Come on, Leon. Admit it! You must be jealous of Colman Domingo! How can you not resent him? Don’t you want his career?”

Well, naturally, who wouldn’t want to be that successful? Or have that fabulous wardrobe?

But I cannot be jealous. Because the truth, which I can admit with zero bitterness or envy, is that we simply do not exist in the same show-business universe. Never have. Never will.

There’s a reason he’s been nominated for two Oscars and certainly will be nominated again (and win eventually). He is incredible versatile, with remarkable range. The man can sing and dance! He can go from playing a wife beater to a loving gay husband, then a hardened criminal to a determined D.C. activist, without breaking a sweat. I mean, come on!

He is a playwright, songwriter, producer, a Broadway veteran, and now a film director! How can I be jealous of someone who’s gifts so far exceed my own? I can’t. I’m not that shallow or insecure! I can only admire him and wish him more success!

And let’s be honest. He’s achieved something even rarer in Hollywood than consecutive Oscar nominations. He’s become a major-motion-picture star despite being Black and openly queer.

Now, maybe if all that success had turned him into an asshole, it would be easy to hate him. And you’d be reading a much juicier blog in this space! Alas, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Or one more deserving.

If you’ve seen him on any talk show, or read his co-stars praise him, you know he hasn’t become a jerk. He’s as funny, charming, well-spoken, quick-witted, and gracious as he was back in the dressing room at Theatre Rhino. And yes, he’s still gorgeous. According to Tina Fey, he even smells good! What’s not to love about him?

So it’s wonderful to see him enjoy the success he so richly deserves! Sometimes nice guys do win!

The best thing about watching him in Netflix’s successful Four Seasons is this: it’s joyous that audiences are seeing the Colman I remember from inside that cement-block-walled basement dressing room over 30 years ago – funny as hell, charming as the devil, and dressed to the nines.

Looking back, I do regret that we never worked together during our San Francisco days. But we could remedy that!

Hey Colman, if “your people” bring this blog to your attention, and you actually read this, please allow me this shameless pitch:

The trades report that you’re writing, directing, and playing the lead in a new film about Nat King Cole.

Now I’ve been told many times that I resemble Danny Kaye (hint, hint) and should seek out a project in which to play him (nudge, nudge).

So if your script includes the moment when Cole introduced  his classic “The Christmas Song” on the Danny Kaye Show, give Belinda a call! I’d love to audition for you!

Gee, I should have been this shameless back in the 1990s!

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Burgeoning curmudgeon (or is that queer-mudgeon?) Leon Acord takes on current events (MAGA, cancel culture), modern-day life (precocious parents, technology), pop culture (theatre critics, closeted actors), and more in Expletives Not Deleted, his collection of bitchy yet bubbly essays, all written in the same acerbic voice that made his memoir SUB-LEBRITY a five-star Amazon bestseller.

Buy it HERE