PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The biggest night in Hollywood is a potentially huge night for Philadelphia.
The Academy Awards are on Sunday, and three actors from our area are up for major awards: Colman Domingo, born in West Philly, is nominated for Best Actor for “Rustin”, where he plays civil rights leader Bayard Rustin — who was born in West Chester, by the way. Mount Airy native Da’Vine Joy Randolph is up for Best Supporting Actress for “The Holdovers.” And some guy from Abington is nominated for playing some composer… his name might be Bradley something?
Meanwhile, actress and comedian Quinta Brunson just won her first acting Emmy for “Abbott Elementary.” All of these accolades make a person wonder… is there some sort of Philly to Hollywood pipeline forming?
When you think about it, Philadelphia is a prime place to get started as an actor. The city is close enough for a day trip to audition in New York, but cheaper than living in New York, and there’s a big regional theater scene here. Domingo and Randolph — both Temple University graduates — started on stage before they rose to stardom on the silver screen.
‘Philly is very much part of Colman’
It isn’t too hard to find people in Philadelphia who have crossed paths in some way with Domingo. One long-time KYW reporter even went to college with him — as the actor actually studied journalism at Temple.
But before that, he grew up in West Philly and went to Overbrook High School. The Philadelphia Inquirer described him in those days as “a shy and skinny kid hanging on the steps of his family’s red brick rowhouse off 52nd and Chancellor Streets.”
After college, Domingo moved to San Francisco, where he started performing in theater, playing several roles on Broadway and London’s West End. Those performances eventually brought him to film and television. You may have seen him on screen in “Selma,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Euphoria,” “The Color Purple” — and of course, “Rustin” — about the late civil rights leader, who worked closely with Martin Luther King, Jr., planned the 1963 March on Washington, but was left out of the history books because he was an openly gay Black man.
Through all this, Domingo has always kept Philadelphia close to his heart. Last summer, he made a documentary series called “You Are Here” on AMC, about all the cities that shaped his life. The second episode featured Philadelphia.
He comes back home pretty regularly — sometimes just to visit, and sometimes, to put on a show. Zak Berkman, producing artistic director at People’s Light Theatre in Malvern, has known Domingo since their New York theater days in 2007, and worked with him as a producer, director and as an actor.
“What is remarkable about Colman is he is a full contact, full body human. In whatever space he is in, you are getting 500% of him at any moment,” said Berkman. “His belief in theater and belief in storytelling is so contagious that everyone in the room around him is like, ‘Yes, I want to, I'm so glad I'm in this world at this moment doing this thing.’”
Domingo was a part of People’s Light’s New Play Frontiers development program in 2013, which launched his long-running relationship with the theater company. Beyond the New Play Frontiers program, they’ve put on two plays that he wrote: “Lights Out: Nat ‘King’ Cole” in 2017 and “Dot” in 2019.
“Philly is very much part of Colman,” said actress Zuhairah McGill, who starred in “Dot.” “His heart is here, his family's here. This is where he grew up. His parents who passed away were here. He really brags on Philly, he does not shy away from it. And you know, if you want to challenge him, he'll let you know.”
Berkman agrees, mentioning how Domingo represents Philadelphia through his work. “Colman often sets his work in Philly, and whether it is directly autobiographical or tangentially autobiographical, I think he sees himself very much as telling a Philly story,” he said.
“I am so thrilled for Colman. There is not a nicer human being — and someone who is more passionate and compassionate about the art that he's making. So every opportunity he's getting to be elevated and cheered, I’m standing in my living room for him.”
Da’Vine Joy Randolph: a ‘no nonsense’ artist
Da’Vine Joy Randolph has swept the supporting actress category in all the awards leading up to the Oscars — the Golden Globes, SAG Awards, Critics’ Choice. In “The Holdovers”, she plays the head cook at a prep school who stays there with Paul Giamatti’s character and a couple of students over Christmas break, taking care of the kids and the professor while grieving the loss of her son in the Vietnam War.
Many people first saw her as comedian Lady Reed in “Dolemite Is My Name” and snarky Det. Williams on Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.”
Before all that, Randolph was a theater student at Temple University. She was born in Mount Airy and initially studied classical voice and opera at Temple, but changed her concentration in her junior year. She performed in several shows at Temple, including “Our Lady of 121st Street” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” before she went on to graduate school at the Yale School of Drama.
“She actually started as a voice major in the [Boyer College of Music and Dance], and transferred over, walked in from Boyer across the street to an audition, and all the people in the audition were blown away. They just said, ‘Oh, my gosh, where are you coming from?’” said Jason Lindner, associate director of marketing at Temple’s School of Theater, Film, and Media Arts
“I've been trying to impress on everyone [that] it's possibly one of the biggest things to happen to the school. We've had alums win and been nominated for Academy Awards before in various categories, but this is really special.”
Lindner says Randolph and Domingo’s nominations demonstrate to students how it’s possible to succeed while holding on to their authenticity. “The fact that they can be so much themselves and make it to such high heights is really inspiring for all of our students who come in just thinking, ‘Where's my voice fit?’”
The key to Randolph’s authenticity, Lindner says, is how uncompromising she is as an artist. “[She] doesn't seem to be trying to be anybody else or trying to put on anything, or come from a certain angle, but always coming from what feels like an internal life,” he said.
The Oscar nominee is being inducted into the university’s gallery of success on April 5. That success, Lindner says, helps tell the story of the school. “The folks that come and are successful here at Temple are kind of no nonsense. Where I feel it succeeds the most is for folks who are really willing to put their heads down and get work done,” he said.
“She's really emblematic of the kind of student that does very well here in our program and demonstrates what a great place it is, where people can really find their voice and find themselves.”
The Oscars will air Sunday, March 10, at 7 p.m. on ABC. Temple is hosting a watch party where students and staff will be cheering on their fellow owls — just as Philly will be rooting for their hometown heroes.
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