Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#161
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Colman Domingo represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 28 years in, and Colman is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Colman Domingo appears in 31 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Colman. Michael is the clearest case: a film rated 8.7 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for science fiction, thriller, crime. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Marielle Heller, Steven Spielberg, Gus Van Sant and others, Colman Domingo helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Michael (2026) as Joseph Jackson · Disclosure Day (2026) as Hugo Wakefield · Sing Sing (2024) as John 'Divine G' Whitfield
Career snapshot
Ranked #161 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
31
1999–2027
Career length
28 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.7
Michael
Average Nutevio score
5.9
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.7
Michael
Most frequent director
Steven Spielberg
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Steven Spielberg
Most common genre
Drama
14 titles
Average runtime
1h 46m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.9
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.5
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
2010s
6.6 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Lucy in the Sky, If Beale Street Could Talk, Assassination Nation — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.6
Across 6 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.6
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1990s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. True Crime.
Most productive era
2020s
22 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.51 film | 6.11 film | 6.75 films | 7.07 films |
| Action | — | — | — | 6.94 films |
| Thriller | 6.51 film | 5.21 film | 5.72 films | 6.86 films |
| Comedy | — | — | 6.31 film | 5.54 films |
| Crime | 6.51 film | 5.21 film | — | 5.34 films |
| Romance | — | — | 6.02 films | 6.61 film |
| Horror | — | — | 6.31 film | 6.01 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1999True Crime
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Wally Cartwright.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2026Michael
8.7 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2027The Comebacker
The current state of the argument.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
31 of 31 films
as Joseph Jackson
Directed by Antoine Fuqua
as Hugo Wakefield
Directed by Steven Spielberg
as Bobby T.
Directed by Edgar Wright
as Unicron (voice)
Directed by Steven Caple Jr.
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Joseph Jackson
Michael (2026)
Performance score8.8
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Joseph Jackson gives Colman Domingo a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
John 'Divine G' Whitfield
Sing Sing (2024)
Performance score8.0
Sing Sing asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. John 'Divine G' Whitfield is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Hugo Wakefield
Disclosure Day (2026)
Performance score7.7
Disclosure Day asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Hugo Wakefield is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Bobby T.
The Running Man (2025)
Performance score7.3
The Running Man asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Bobby T. is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Joseph Jackson
Start here. Michael is the clearest statement of what Colman Domingo does — accessible, 128 minutes, and rated 8.7 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Colman at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023)
A deliberate change of key after Michael — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Sing Sing (2024)
A deliberate change of key after Transformers: Rise of the Beasts — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
The Running Man (2025)
A deliberate change of key after Sing Sing — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Disclosure Day (2026)
Keeps the science fiction register of The Running Man but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Sam Levinson
Director
2 films together
Notably Assassination Nation
Steven Spielberg
Director
2 films together
Notably Disclosure Day
Clint Eastwood
Director
1 film together
Notably True Crime
Joe Roth
Director
1 film together
Notably Freedomland
Spike Lee
Director
1 film together
Notably Miracle at St. Anna
Lee Daniels
Director
1 film together
Notably The Butler
Ava DuVernay
Director
1 film together
Notably Selma
Barry Jenkins
Director
1 film together
Notably If Beale Street Could Talk
Noah Hawley
Director
1 film together
Notably Lucy in the Sky
Janicza Bravo
Director
1 film together
Notably Zola
Stefano Sollima
Director
1 film together
Notably Tom Clancy's Without Remorse
Nia DaCosta
Director
1 film together
Notably Candyman
Blitz Bazawule
Director
1 film together
Notably The Color Purple
Kirk DeMicco
Director
1 film together
Notably Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken
Steven Caple Jr.
Director
1 film together
Notably Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Ethan Coen
Director
1 film together
Notably Drive-Away Dolls
Anthony Russo
Director
1 film together
Notably The Electric State
Jon M. Chu
Director
1 film together
Notably Wicked: For Good
Edgar Wright
Director
1 film together
Notably The Running Man
Antoine Fuqua
Director
1 film together
Notably Michael
Gus Van Sant
Director
1 film together
Notably Dead Man's Wire
Marielle Heller
Director
1 film together
Notably The Comebacker
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Steven Spielberg
Director
2 films together · 7.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Disclosure DaySam Levinson
Director
2 films together · 4.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Assassination NationAntoine Fuqua
Director
1 film together · 8.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MichaelAva DuVernay
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SelmaSteven Caple Jr.
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Transformers: Rise of the BeastsLee Daniels
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The ButlerKirk DeMicco
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ruby Gillman, Teenage KrakenBlitz Bazawule
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Color PurpleEdgar Wright
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Running ManStefano Sollima
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tom Clancy's Without RemorseBarry Jenkins
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
If Beale Street Could TalkJon M. Chu
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wicked: For GoodGus Van Sant
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dead Man's WireAnthony Russo
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Electric StateClint Eastwood
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
True CrimeJanicza Bravo
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ZolaSpike Lee
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Miracle at St. AnnaNia DaCosta
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
CandymanEthan Coen
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Drive-Away DollsJoe Roth
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
FreedomlandNoah Hawley
Director
1 film together · 5.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Lucy in the SkyMarielle Heller
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The ComebackerSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Michael
as Joseph Jackson
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Michael
as Joseph Jackson
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Michael
as Joseph Jackson
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Miracle at St. Anna
as West Indian Postal Customer
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Michael
as Joseph Jackson
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Colman Domingo has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
28 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Drama Legend
Awarded
14 catalogue titles in drama, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Michael
as Joseph Jackson
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Michael
as Joseph Jackson
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Michael
as Joseph Jackson
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Freedomland
as Male Patient
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Michael
as Joseph Jackson
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Electric State
as Wolfe (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Zola
as X
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Disclosure Day
as Hugo Wakefield
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
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Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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