Colman Domingo's acting greatness started in the circus
One of the veteran actor’s first performing jobs was as a professional clown
In the new Netflix film Rustin, Colman Domingo plays the late civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, an advisor to Martin Luther King Jr. and one of the architects of the 1963 March on Washington. It's the veteran actor's first lead film role, and it draws on his decades of experience honing his craft on Broadway, in film and television, and even the circus.
Clowning was one of Domingo's very first jobs when he moved to San Francisco in the early '90s. He had seen an ad for a company called Make*A*Circus, which created educational events for children, and decided to audition.
"They were looking for 'performers who can move and people who are willing to learn,'" the actor says in an interview with Q's Tom Power. "I was like, 'Well, that sounds like me. I'm 21 and skinny and ready to do anything.'"
At the audition, one of the teachers, the late Master Lu Yi, told Domingo he could tell he had a "big heart" and was willing to try anything.
"If anyone can really look at my career now, it explains a lot," says Domingo. "I was always willing to try and take a risk and a leap of faith. I became an aerial web artist … I did six feet tall stilts, I learned clowning and juggling — I juggled five pins, I juggled five balls — and I would teach those skills to kids as well."
WATCH | Official trailer for Rustin:
'Keep the heart of a clown'
As it turns out, Domingo received a lot of helpful performing advice during his time in the circus. He says another one of his teachers, the late actor and clown Joan Mankin, taught him how to "keep the heart of a clown."
"There's an openness to clowns I learned about," he explains. "You have to have a sense of vulnerability, you know? Being willing to fail, to look like a fool and then also to lead with your heart. You always lead with a sensitive heart that can always be broken at any point. So I think the heart of the clown at the core, as I'm thinking about it, is a sense of vulnerability and joy and fearlessness to be wrong, to look like a fool, to look absolutely stupid, but knowing that it's going to lead you to somewhere.
"So I've always used that in my work, even when I'm in rehearsals or on my sets…. You have to be willing to be vulnerable because I think that's where you find love as well. There's love, I know, in my performances because that's what I seek. There's love in some way, shape or form. Even when I'm playing villains, there's love there. There's grace, there's humility, there's humanity somewhere in there. It's coloured in there because that's where I'm coming from."
Watch Domingo's full interview with Power or listen to it on our podcast. He also talks about acting as a service job, why his mom wrote to Oprah several times on his behalf, and his latest role in Rustin.
WATCH | Colman Domingo's interview with Tom Power:
The full interview with Colman Domingo is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Colman Domingo produced by Vanessa Greco.
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