The Best Colman Domingo Movies & TV Shows, Ranked

Colman Domingo is usually at his best working with a large ensemble. That isn’t to say he doesn’t do well as a leading man, far from it, but if his performance as Cutler from Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is any indication, Domingo thrives alongside others. 

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a tight 94-minute film, taking place over the course of a single afternoon. In it, we watch Domingo, alongside the extremely talented Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman, attempting to record the film’s title song. There are a lot of jostling egos in the film, but Domingo holds his own and makes Cutler serve as the bridge between Ma’s egotism and standoffishness and Levee’s ambition and narcissism.

The film, like the play, is a great pressure cooker and pairs well with another play-turned-musical, The Boys in the Band (2020). Both plays understand that confined environments can deliver great drama, and watching Domingo slowly lose his cool shows the range that Domingo has. He can be calm, cool, and collected, or explosively angry. It’s a great microcosm of Domingo’s talents as an actor, but still not quite the best of the best.

While it would be unfair to say that Colman Domingo languished in obscurity until Fear the Walking Dead, there’s no denying that the series was his big break. For eight seasons, Colman Domingo went from an actor known for playing bit parts to portraying one of the most complicated characters in the history of The Walking Dead (2010), spin-off or otherwise. 

Colman Domingo plays Victor Strand, who can generously be described as an opportunistic conman that you either love or hate. At points, he can be immensely unlikeable and solely looking out for himself, especially in Season 7, but he’s just so darn charismatic that you can’t help but root for him. A part of that comes down to Domingo’s delivery, and you can tell he’s relishing the role, always coming across like he has a way to make everything work out for himself and himself alone. He’s essentially the Fear the Walking Dead equivalent of Negan from The Walking Dead, but more smooth and calculating.

You can definitely tell that Domingo inserted some of Strand’s eccentricities when playing Joe Jackson, so if you want to see a version of Joe that isn’t a complete scumbag, consider watching Fear the Walking Dead.

While Domingo’s appearances in Fear the Walking Dead put him on the map, it was Euphoria that made people fall in love with him. Say what you will about the show’s third season, but Domingo was one of the best things about the show’s first and second seasons as Ali Muhammad. 

Ali is a wise person, and his words to Rue along her path to recovery all come from a deeply personal and authentic place. He doesn’t sugarcoat how tough it is, but that frankness is appreciated and needed for Zendaya’s character. It’s not quite as stark as A Scannery Darkly (2006) was in its depiction of drug addiction, but it is reminiscent of how Domingo would later portray Divine Eye in Sing Sing (2024).

At some points, it gets pretty close to meta where you feel like Domingo is imparting the wisdom he’s learned over his decades of acting on and off screen onto a new generation of talent. In a show where most of the cast members were several shades of unlikeable, Ali’s presence felt like a breath of fresh air, and Domingo nailed that.

Biopics are almost always a showcase of the lead actor’s talents, and the same is true for Rustin. This was Domingo’s first major leading film role, and it’s clear that director George C. Wolfe wanted to continue working with Domingo following their previous collaboration in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. 

The story follows Civil Rights activist Bayard Rustin, the chief organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Rustin was a complicated man, but it’s a fairly breezy biopic, lasting only 107 minutes. While it hits the same notes as other Civil Rights biopics like Selma (2014), the focus on Rustin’s homosexuality helps differentiate it from its peers.

Rustin is a gay man, and Colman Domingo’s portrayal feels genuine as we see him deal with both the difficulties of being a Black man during the Civil Rights movement, as well as a gay man in an era where being outed as one is just as dangerous. What keeps this from being his best role is that the film falls into some of the expected pitfalls of most biopics, like blunt writing and melodramatic moments that feel a bit too over-the-top. Even so, Domingo still makes Rustin a great ride.

While Domingo may have gained plenty of attention for Rustin as a leading man, Sing Sing shows Domingo at his peak. It’s a deeply emotional performance, and one that showcases how much he cares about the performing arts.

The film goes into detail about the performing arts rehabilitation program at Sing Sing prison, and not only how important it is for Domingo’s character, Divine Eye, but for Domingo as a person. Domingo has consistently advocated for the arts and the importance of theater, and at times, it doesn’t feel like he’s playing a character. It’s just Colman Domingo explaining acting techniques and how no one is beyond redemption, which rings true when you consider most of the cast members are alums from the program.

There’s an empathy to Sing Sing that makes it as emotionally poignant as The Shawshank Redemption (1994), and Domingo is the beating heart of the film. It’s his best role so far, and any fan of Colman Domingo owes it to themselves to see Sing Sing.