Before Colman Domingo became an Emmy Award-winning actor, he was a struggling artist with a dream, and his mom was willing to do anything to make those dreams come true.
The Rustin star, who got his start on the theater stage back in 1998, recently sat down with SiriusXM’s Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa to discuss his humble beginnings and the support he received from his mom, Edith Bowles.
“My mother used to write to Oprah,” Colman told Kelly. “She wrote to Oprah at least six times because I remember, I was like, ‘Mom, why are you writing Oprah again?'”
“She would write because I was a struggling artist, and she believed in me, and she would, you know, every so often, especially if I was down and I was bitching about auditions or not getting things, and she said, ‘Well, you know what? I wrote to Oprah.’ I was like, ‘Why?’ ‘Well, because Oprah helps people.'”
She believed that if she could just get her son on Oprah’s show, she would immediately recognize how “fantastic” Colman is, and want to help him with his career.
The 54-year-old Philadelphia native remembered being against the idea, both his mom reaching out to the media mogul and the possibility of Oprah actually helping him.
“I was, you know, bitter, disgruntled. [I said,] ‘No, mom. What are you talking about? Get outta here. There’s no way, shape, or form I’m gonna get on that show. Oprah does not care.'”
Well, fast-forward to present day, and Colman and Oprah have not only worked together (most recently on the musical period drama The Color Purple), but they’re also friends.
While they were on a hike a couple of years ago, Colman revealed he was able to tell Oprah about his mom’s plans.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, I have to tell you something. My mother wrote to you over, and over again, and I think I realized that her letters got to you,'” Colman said. “She stood there and clutched her chest, and she didn’t even say anything and just took my hand and we just continued to walk.”
“Now, to make it even more surreal, I wrote this play called Wild with Happy. Right? It’s actually now out on Audible right now, you guys. In the play, it’s about a guy who loses his mother and he’s grieving, but it’s a dark comedy. At some point, the mother, I recall this conversation of mom writing to Oprah, so I’m casting this for Audible, and I thought, has anybody offered Oprah anything as an actress in a while?”
“So, I decided to offer her to play the role of the mother and she accepted, and so Oprah literally says, ‘Do you want me to write Oprah?’ So, I directed Oprah in this, so it’s very meta in many ways.”
Colman’s mother died in 2006. What a beautiful way to honor her and his journey.
