Colman Domingo nearly quit acting
Colman Domingo was ready to quit acting in his 40s.
Colman Domingo was ready to give up his career in his 40s.
The 55-year-old actor had been working for a long time before landing his breakthrough role in Fear the Walking Dead in 2015 and has gone on to enjoy huge success, including a string of Academy Award, SAG Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations in the last five years but he admitted there were times he thought about finding a new profession because he wasn't sure he could "afford" it anymore.
He told the new issue of Britain's Esquire magazine: "I thought I was at the end of my career. I’d done everything I was supposed to do, and I didn’t want to be in this business bitterly.
“I had many heartaches in the industry. My work wasn’t being seen. Usually, in a career, you get a raise, you get a bump in promotion. There’s no promotion for being an artist. I just kept giving it six months.
“You think, ‘What’s it all about? Is it worth it? Is it worth stepping out on a limb, with sometimes little return?’ Sometimes I thought I couldn’t afford to be an artist — that it was just for wealthy kids with Ivy League educations.”
The Rustin actor only takes on roles that he believes in.
He said: “My work is revolutionary. It’s how I tell the world what I believe in. If you look at my work, you can tell what I think is important, where I’m putting my dollars, how I vote.”
The Euphoria star has also turned his attention to both writing and directing and rather than feeling spread thin, he believes the different experiences just make him "stronger" in each field.
He said: "“I’ve never been a person who could just do one thing. My whole career has been that way, and I find that I’m a stronger actor because I direct, a stronger director because I act, a stronger writer because of all of it.
"Maybe it’s something that goes back to my ancestors. I’m a descendant of people who were enslaved. How did they survive? They didn’t just fight — they loved, danced, sang. They had lots of sex. They were courageous, curious — and I feel that. We can do it all.”
And Colman is passionate about his characters and always wants to know more about them.
He said: “I’m not the kind of actor who’s just going to come and hit their marks, have no thought in their head and do what you want. I’m the actor who goes into a room and asks a director, ‘Why is he written this way? Do you want to put more colours into this character?’
"Now, that may seem a little cocky, but for me, I want to be a worker. I want to get under the hood with you and really figure this out. I’m here because I care — because I want to audition for the role — but I think there’s so much more.”
The Winter issue of Esquire UK is out on 13 November. For more from Colman, visit https://www.esquire.com/uk/colman-domingo-interview-2025
