Colman Domingo: I ‘Lost My Mind’ After ‘Boardwalk Empire’ Rejection

Colman Domingo's time has finally come.

Veteran actor Colman Domingo, 54, is finally receiving his flowers thanks to back-to-back acclaimed performances in Rustin and The Color Purple.

Ten years ago, the Philadelphia native was stuck auditioning for “under-fives,” roles that only offered a line or two of dialogue, he told The New York Times. One was to play the maître d’ at a Black-owned nightclub in an episode of the HBO dramatic series Boardwalk Empire.

Domingo came to the callback audition dressed in a tuxedo and even sang and tap danced for the casting crew. He received a call from his agent and was sure he secured the part that would help take his career to the next level.

Writes Kyle Buchanan of the Times:

“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,” Domingo recalled before telling his agent, “I can’t take it anymore, I think this is going to kill me.”

But a lot has changed since then. Domingo won an Emmy in 2022 in for his guest appearance on another HBO drama series, Euphoria. He’s also starred in Oscar-nominated films such as If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020).

Now his breakout role in Netflix’s Rustin could see him earn his first Best Actor Oscar nomination, Variety reports. The Color Purple raked in an impressive $18 million Christmas Day debut.

Now Domingo’s days of auditioning are far behind him.

“I became an actor that was ‘offer-only’ probably sooner than the industry thought I should have,” Domingo 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.”