“I always want to challenge audiences.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Happy to share thatsince we last spokeI have now seenZola.
COLMAN DOMINGO:How do you feel?
Colman Domingo as X in ‘Zola.'.Anna Kooris/A24
Are you scared of me right now?
A little bit, a little bit.
Because all the characters have such size, right?
Colman Domingo in the AMC series ‘Fear the Walking Dead.'.Ryan Green/AMC
They still have such campy size.
I mean Riley’s giving a drag performance.
I never thought of it that way, but now I cannot unsee that.
Because it’s true, it is a drag performance.
What is all this that you are bringing?
That has nothing to do with my experience.”
Getting a little more into your career though, has this phase been fun?
Really finding projects that naturally have queer narratives or queer characters woven into it?
Thinking aboutMa Rainey’s,Euphoria, evenFear The Walking Dead.
Never have those come across as having an “exclusively gay moment.”
It’s so much more a key part of the continuing narrative.
You know what’s wild?
And it’s not necessarily about queerness, it’s about all these other things.
They’re dealing with addiction, they’re dealing with having agency in the world.
So I think that’s why I didn’t even recognize it.
I’m like, “Oh, are they?”
The Big Gay Sketch Showwas 2008, so you’ve been out-out professionally for a while.
Even before that though, I didn’t even needThe Big Gay Sketch Show.
I’ve just always approached myself in this industry as being my full self.
I’ve never felt that way, I’ve always felt that my work will stand on its own.
And I didn’t understand what he meant.
They’re not known for their body of work, and I think we need that.
We need all of it.
I play all these different weird characters in different genres and that’s why I live."
So I’m holding that space while my comrades hold some other spaces.
To be honest, if I had difficulties, I didn’t know.
Because I’m too busy building as well.
I’m building and creating worlds for queer characters to live in, for heterosexual characters to live in.
So I feel like that’s what I’m so focused on.
So I’ve never focused on something that possibly I didn’t get if someone had any issue.
It was the oddest question I ever got in my entire life.
I was like, “What?
I think you live in a world where that stuff comes up.”
You know what I mean?
So we got to really take care of each other.
So I’ve always been conscious of that to be honest.
Because now the audiences know him to be a con man.
Now you peel back the layers, you get something else.
I always love that he’s not led with just being queer.
Are there any young LGBTQ actors that you find yourself being inspired by?
I’ll say the young lady,Mj Rodriguez.
I’ve known Mj for years and I’m so proud of her.
I saw her doLittle Shop of Horrorsin L.A., and that was an amazing role for her.
Oh,andshe can sing down.
We see ourselves in that," and don’t diminish [it].
Because you rarely see Afro-Latinos in the press as well.
It’s been nice to see that intersection really come forward, especially with a show likePose.
Absolutely, and we know that, but now I think the world is starting to catch on.
What are you excited about next?
I’m particularly excited aboutCandyman, even though I am so terrified of horror movies.
You should be terrified, it’s going to scare you.
I’m very excited I’m about to start shooting season 7 ofFear The Walking Dead.
Anything that’s outside the box in every single way, I love it.
Ultimately it’s kind of queer.
I think most villains are queer in some way.
They always have a great sense of humor about things that are a little off color.
Look at Disney, those are the characters we love.
Think about it, Cruella de Vil the first drag queen, right?
