Whether he’s delivering a heartfelt soliloquy, charming his way out of a tight spot, or — very soon — dancing his way down the yellow brick road, Emmy Award–winning actor Colman Domingo has provided his talents to a diverse cast of characters over the years. Having started as an actor in 1995, the Philadelphia native didn’t get his break until Fear the Walking Dead in 2015 (more on that below). He garnered further acclaim for his turn as the straight-shooting Ali opposite Zendaya in Euphoria starting in 2019, and has since gone on to a host of other attention-grabbing roles, including in The Color Purple (2023), Sing Sing (2023), and more.
Later this year, Domingo will lend his talents to Wicked: For Good as the voice of the Cowardly Lion alongside Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba and Ariana Grande’s Glinda. See below for more Domingo performances on Netflix, from taking down Walkers in the zombie apocalypse to his Oscar-nominated turn as a Civil Rights Movement leader and more.
Based on the 1981 film of the same name by writer and director Alan Alda, The Four Seasons follows three couples — Nick and Anne (Steve Carell and Kerri Kenney-Silver), Kate and Jack (Tina Fey and Will Forte), and Danny and Claude (Domingo and Marco Calvani) — as they vacation together through each season of the year. When their longtime friend group undergoes a major shift, they all must take a closer look at both their romantic and platonic relationships.
“There’s a lot of deep love, but they’re also in a place where they’re beginning to deal with the heavier realities and subjects that come with age,” Domingo previously told Tudum, speaking about the characters’ journeys throughout the first season. “How does one want to deal with it or evade it? How does a couple work through it together and look at each other’s needs being met? Will they separate or will they come together?”
Domingo stars alongside Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman, and Michael Potts in this dramatized homage to influential blues singer Ma Rainey (Davis). When Ma and her Georgia Jazz Band musicians (including Domingo’s Cutler) show up for a recording session in 1920s Chicago, they’re forced to contend with a racist producer, and trouble within, when trumpeter Levee Green (Boseman) demands more recognition. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, an adaptation of legendary playwright August Wilson’s work, was produced by Denzel Washington (The Equalizer) and Todd Black (Fences).
In this thriller by creator Stephen Belber, Domingo plays media pundit Muncie Daniels, who stumbles on a dead body deep in the Poconos mountains and fights to prove his innocence and reclaim his lost ideals. All the while, he’s working to reconnect with his estranged wife, Elena (Marsha Stephanie Blake), and their children, Kallie (Gabrielle Graham) and Demetrius (Thaddeus J. Mixson).
Directed by three-time Tony Award winner George C. Wolfe, Rustin stars Domingo as Bayard Rustin, the openly gay Black Civil Rights leader who dedicated his life to a quest for racial equality. The film follows the often-overlooked Rustin, who was the architect of 1963’s March on Washington, during a period of growing unease. Domingo’s performance earned him a nomination for Best Actor at the 96th Academy Awards.
When Brownsville teen Monique (Elvire Emanuelle) tries to reconnect with her biological father, Darrel (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), she takes a big swing by joining her high school’s all-boys wrestling team. But it doesn’t take long to realize, with the help of Domingo’s reluctant Coach Castile, she might have been looking for love and approval in the wrong places. Written and directed by Olivia Newman (Where the Crawdads Sing), First Match premiered at South by Southwest 2018, where it won the Audience Award and the LUNA/Gamechanger Award.
Domingo got his big break as Victor Strand, an antagonist in Fear the Walking Dead, a spin-off to the hit 2010s zombie drama The Walking Dead. The series serves as a prequel of sorts, following a dysfunctional blended family in Los Angeles as the world devolves into a full-on zombie apocalypse. Domingo stars in all eight seasons as Victor, a charming former con man who adapts to the new world order a bit too easily.
