August 05, 2026
Todd Owyoung/NBC Universal
Colman Domingo, left, explains how he draws inspiration to portray historic figures and fictional characters during an appearance on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.'
When Colman Domingo gets cast as a historic figure, like his role as Joe Jackson in "Michael," he spends about 40 hours per week doing research to prepare. That includes watching videos, learning about the era his subject lived in and uncovering anything else he can find out.
"You want to do soul work, to be honest, you don't want mimicry or anything, you want to find the soul of a person and advocate for that," Domingo said during an appearance Tuesday on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon."
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The Philly native shared insights on several recent and upcoming projects, including "Michael," "The Four Seasons" and "Euphoria." Domingo also confirmed that he's writing, producing and starring in "Unforgettable," a biopic about singer Nat King Cole. Few details have been released, but filming reportedly will take place later this year.
For now, he's leaning everything he can about the famous singer, but Domingo said his process is also about finding his own way to interpret Cole.
"I love the idea of playing people who are known, but for me, the challenge is to find how they live in my body, so I'm not doing mimicry, I'm finding where they live in me," Domingo said.
In July, Domingo received an Emmy nominations for outstanding guest actor on "Euphoria" and outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series for his role in Tina Fey's "The Four Seasons." In "Euphoria," he plays a narcotics Anonymous sponsor of Rue, who is is portrayed by Zendaya.
But Domingo said "The Four Seasons" gave him a chance to dust off his comedy muscles, which he hadn't really used since his days on "The Big Gay Sketch Show." To help get into character as Danny, Domingo said he drew inspiration from Bea Arthur on "The Golden Girls," saying he watches it before going to bed at least six nights a week.
On "The Four Seasons," Danny, serves as the straight man to the show's many wild and crazy characters and as the show's conscious, which Domingo said is what Arthur did as Dorothy Zbornak on "Golden Girls." Although his character is different from many of his dramatic roles, Domingo said the decision to join the show was a pretty easy one.
"The idea to do 'Four Seasons' is Tina Fey calls up and she says 'Hey, I want to get a bunch of people together looking cute in cute sweaters and be upstate' and I'm like 'Count me in!'" Domingo said.
