Rustin has earned Colman three nominations, including a Golden Globe for Best Actor for his role as civil rights activist Bayard Rustin.
The musical adaptation of The Color Purple opened on Christmas Day and earned a whopping $18 million on its first day, making it the second biggest Christmas Day opening in history.
And sure, the Tony-nominated actor for The Scottsboro Boys has a brilliant resume now, but he revealed one audition that nearly broke him.
According to the New York Times, Colman used to stick to auditioning for “under-fives,” minor roles that only have one or two lines of dialogue.
The 54-year-old actor thought “under-fives” would lead to more significant roles, until one rejection almost made him lose his mind.
Colman auditioned for a bit part in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire to play a maître d’ at a Black-owned nightclub. He even dressed in a tuxedo, sang, and tap danced for the producers.
As the Times reported, “His agent began that call by saying that everyone on Boardwalk Empire had loved his audition. This is the one that’s going to change it up for me, Domingo thought. This is the one that’s going to finally be my big break. There was just one problem, his agent said. After the callback, a historical researcher on the show reminded producers that the maître d’s in those nightclubs were typically light-skinned, and Domingo was not. Boardwalk Empire had passed.”
“That’s when I lost my mind,” Colman said, which prompted him to tell his agent, “I can’t take it anymore; I think this is going to kill me.”
It’s shocking to learn something as ridiculous as the darkness of his skin color kept him from a promising role, but not even colorism could hold Colman’s unmatched talent down.
Unfortunately, Colman’s struggles as a Black actor are not rare, as his costar Taraji P. Henson revealed during the press tour for The Color Purple.
In the Times, Colman also shared that he’s now an “offer-only” actor to avoid reliving those hurtful and prejudiced audition processes. “I became an actor that was ‘offer-only’ probably sooner than the industry thought I should have,” Colman said. “But I decided I have a body of work. You can go and look at it, you can ask other directors about me, and you can make me the offer or not.”
It’s Colman Domingo’s time, and I’m incredibly proud!
Stream Rustin on Netflix. The Color Purple is now playing in theaters everywhere.