Before Colman Domingo became an Emmy Award-winning actor, he was a failed artist with a dream and his mother was willing to do anything to make that dream come true.
The Rustin Star, who began on the theater stage in 1998, recently met with SiriusXM’s Let’s talk off camera with Kelly Ripa to talk about his humble beginnings and the support he received from his mother, Edith Bowles.
“My mother always wrote to Oprah,” Colman Kelly said. “She wrote to Oprah at least six times, because I remember thinking, ‘Mom, why are you writing to Oprah again?'”
“She wrote to me because I was a struggling artist and she believed in me. And she did that, you know, every now and then, especially when I was feeling down and complaining about auditions or not getting things. And she said, ‘You know what? I wrote to Oprah.’ I was like, ‘Why?’ ‘Because Oprah helps people.'”
She believed that if she could just get her son on Oprah’s show, Oprah would immediately recognize how “amazing” Colman is and would want to help him in his career.
The 54-year-old Philadelphia native remembers being against the idea, both his mother’s attempt to contact the media mogul and the possibility that Oprah might actually help him.
“I was, you know, bitter and angry. (I said,) ‘No, mom. What are you talking about? Get out of here. There’s no way I’m going on that show. Oprah doesn’t care.'”
Well, fast forward to the present, and Colman and Oprah have not only worked together (most recently on the musical historical drama The color purple), but they are also friends.
While on a hike a few years ago, Colman revealed that he was able to tell Oprah about his mother’s plans.
“I just thought, ‘Oh my God, I have to tell you something. My mother wrote to you over and over again, and I think I noticed that her letters touched you,'” Colman said. “She stood there clutching her chest, didn’t say anything, just took my hand and we just kept walking.”
“To make it even more surreal, I wrote this piece called Wild with Happy. Right? It’s actually out on Audible now, folks. The play is about a guy who loses his mother and is grieving, but it’s a black comedy. At one point, I remember this conversation where mom wrote to Oprah, so I’m casting this for Audible, and I thought: Has Oprah offered anyone anything as an actress in a while?”
“So I decided to offer her the role of the mother and she accepted, and Oprah literally said, ‘Would you like me to write Oprah?’ So I directed Oprah, so it’s very meta in a lot of ways.”
Colman’s mother died in 2006. What a beautiful way to honor her and his life’s journey.
