Colman Domingo talks 'Rustin' Oscar nod and being an awards style icon: 'Isn't it crazy?'

Colman Domingo is having the time of his life making this Oscar season his own. Case in point: the way he owned the red carpet at the Critics Choice Awards rocking a mustard yellow Valentino suit.

“I’m somebody who would like to be the party at all times,” says Domingo, a best actor contender for “Rustin.” “I’m walking in to have a great time, to hug on people, to laugh, to enjoy it. And if I lose, I'm the first one clapping and standing for my colleagues.”

Domingo, 54, earned Oscar and Screen Actors Guild nominations playing civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, organizer of the 1963 March on Washington who was sidelined because of his sexual orientation. “Being amplified for my work, portraying this incredible unsung hero, has been everything,” says Domingo, the first Afro Latino to get a nomination for best actor and the second openly gay performer to be nominated for playing a gay character in Academy Awards history. (The first was Ian McKellen in 1999 for "Gods and Monsters.") Domingo is also up for a best ensemble SAG trophy for “The Color Purple,” in which he plays Mister, the cruel husband of Fantasia Barrino’s Celie. 

Here’s the thing you need to know about Domingo: The man never stops working. Even now, during an Oscar campaign, he’s also filming the Netflix thriller series “The Madness” – playing a media pundit accused of a crime – and signed on to play patriarch Joe Jackson in Antoine Fuqua's Michael Jackson biopic as well as direct and star in a Nat King Cole movie.

On this morning, Domingo Zooms in from London, lounging in a wingback chair and “feeling very British,” to chat about his recent roles and being a style icon.

Q: Is there a "Rustin" moment that's personally meaningful to you?

Colman Domingo: One scene is when Martin Luther King Jr. is on television professing his friendship and the fact that Bayard Rustin should continue to lead the March on Washington. I get emotional because it's Bayard's first exhale in the entire film. He's taut and running and so purposeful, and the world is trying to stop him from doing the thing that makes sense to him. And then suddenly, he has this complete release. That always gets me, right in my throat.

You had such an interesting 2023: “Rustin and “Color Purple” obviously, but you also played Batman on a Spotify podcast and had roles in “Ruby Gilman” and a “Transformers” movie. Where do you get that work ethic?

I get it from my family. My mother always worked two or three jobs at a time. My natural father who I'm named after was an immigrant. He moved to this country and had a mentality to succeed. I'm also from Philadelphia, and I always say that people from Philly have a hustling spirit.

I feel strange when I'm not working. The most I can take a vacation usually is for maybe three days.

You must have a pretty understanding husband if you only take three-day vacations.

Well, my husband (Raúl) is sort of the same person in that way. Even our work-life balance is well balanced. I know how to go for a walk on the beach. I'll get a facial and a massage and I have a lot of self-care and wellness. In my home, people always say, "I feel like I'm at a luxury hotel.” Good, because that's the whole intent. I'm relaxing by the pool and in the garden and it's beautiful but I made sure I curated that because I need that.

Before starring on “Euphoria” and “Fear the Walking Dead,” you came up on shows like “Nash Bridges” and “Law & Order.” What was your favorite of those early TV roles?

“The Big Gay Sketch Show” (as a cast member from 2008 to 2010). I played everyone from Nick Cannon to Morgan Freeman to Whoopi Goldberg to Beyoncé. That was wild. That's been my strong suit, (crafting) full characters very outside of my own experience.

You studied journalism at Temple University. Is that where your interest in biopics comes from?

My journalistic heart is still on display when it comes to any of the roles that I choose to take on (and) the way I do so much research with my development of my characters. It never leaves you when you just have a curiosity about other people and wanting to tell their story.

What about Joe Jackson and Nat King Cole do you find fascinating?

The people I'm drawn to are very complicated. The first thing I always have to find out is: What do I love about them? Usually that's my secret. I'm still exploring what I love about (Jackson) and the one thing I've found so far is how strong he was.

And I like to deconstruct them. Deconstructing Nat King Cole is also deconstructing America, because he's very much like a Trojan horse: He's all the trappings of the 1950s that we have in our memories and our music. But then when you unpack and go underneath the hood, you see how he lived in the spaces of grace in the face of troubling times, especially being a Black man in America in 1957. His story matters so much to me.

Do you have your SAG and Oscar fashion picked out yet? You've become a bit of a style icon.

Isn't it crazy? Who knew? I have two incredible stylists named Wayman and Micah, and there's always a story behind every outfit that I wear. Sometimes it's connected to a character (or) a moment, but usually the color palette, the style, the fit, everything about it is a story. And we do have some looks for SAG, BAFTA and Oscars. I'm looking forward to all of those. Great times to tell your story.