*Let’s face it. Colman Domingo is a force. With an Oscar to his credit, a spot among Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, and a slew of past, current, and future projects on deck for big and small screen fans, the 54-year-old entertainer’s come up is one to take notes on.
Yet, despite the current success, Domingo’s past is anything but glamorous. Afrotech notes that “The Color Purple” star was born to a Philadelphia, PA-based working-class family, which saw his biological father leave him and his three siblings to be raised by their mother and stepfather.
Domingo dealt with it, however, with speech therapy courses helping him overcome a significant speech impediment while exercising an early passion for performing and a love of theater. That love, which strengthened during his days attending Philadelphia’s Overbrook High School as a teen, contributed to Domingo starting a new era on the West Coast by moving to San Francisco after finishing a degree program in journalism from Temple University.
With the mid-1990s came growing success on stage in theater productions and Broadway shows. Tragedy emerged years later with the deaths of his mother and stepfather within months of each other in 2006. Chatting with People magazine, Domingo opened up about his mother’s support in the early days of his acting career, going so far as to reveal she wrote letters to Oprah Winfrey in hopes the daytime TV talk show host would help him get ahead.
“I was a very disgruntled unemployed actor working off-off-Broadway and bartending. And my mother said, ‘Well, you know, I wrote Oprah today… because I think she could help you.’ I’m like, ‘Mom, Oprah does not care about me. What are you talking about?’ And she said, ‘Oh, come on. You’ve got to play the game to win.’”
His parents weren’t physically with him, but their spirit shined bright in Domingo, whose season was on the way after getting critical acclaim for his one-man “A Boy and His Soul.”
Appearances on numerous TV shows followed, like “Law & Order,” “Nash Bridges” and “The Knick,” among others, in addition to big screen ventures like Spike Lee’s “Miracle at St. Anna” and “Red Hook Summer,” respectively, and Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed biopic “Lincoln.” As Hollywood’s go-to performer in the mid-2010s Domingo certified his stats with work put in via films like “42,” “The Butler,” “Selma” and “The Birth of a Nation.”
Fast forward to 2024 and Domingo is capturing attention with more than half a dozen upcoming projects in various stages of active production.
Although exact figures aren’t known about what Doming actually pulls in with each project, what is known is work in blockbusters like “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” furthers six-figure speculation. Add in extra income flowing in from directing a trio of episodes of AMC’s “Fear The Walking Dead” and a lucrative partnership with AMC Networks generating a first-look deal in 2020 and it’s safe to say that Domingo’s presence on television and streaming is a secure one
“He has become a core character of the series and, as anyone who knows him knows, his talents go far beyond that one character in that one show,” AMC Networks President Sarah Barnett said about the actor. “He is a writer, producer, and performer who can move effortlessly between film, television, and the stage and we are thrilled to be expanding our relationship with this extraordinary talent and individual through this first-look deal.”
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Colman Domingo is expected to have a complete value of over $8 million.
As for the future, it’s full of possibilities. One thing is certain, though. There will be dollar signs attached to anything Domingo is affiliated with.
Stay tuned…
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