Colman Domingo and Tom Pelphrey go back a decade, to a scrappy New York stage production most of their fans have never heard of. The play was about a soldier and a robot sex doll. “Of course he was the soldier, not the robot sex doll,” Domingo joked at Sunday’s HBO Max Emmy Nominee Celebration.
The two were there to discuss their roles on Euphoria and Task, but also dove deep into a conversation about getting into character, addiction, and their admiration for each other’s work.
Domingo earned two Emmy nominations this year — one for his guest performance on Euphoria, which is nominated for seven Emmys overall, and another for Best Comedy Supporting Actor in Netflix’s Four Seasons. Pelphrey is nominated for Best Drama Supporting Actor for Task, which picked up six nominations overall.
Watch highlights from their conversation in the video below — Domingo on the ending of Euphoria (“It’s the reality of sometimes we lose, and there was no other path for her character”), Pelphrey on how fast he connected to Robbie Prendergrast (“As soon as I read it, I felt like I knew exactly who he was”), and the two of them, more than once, singing each other’s praises (“I admire this guy, I admire his choices. He’s like a modern-day Robert De Niro or Al Pacino, truly.”).
Video is courtesy of HBO Max.
Read on for the full transcript of their conversation.
Domingo: How you doing, man?
Pelphrey: I’m so good. I’m so happy to see you. You just reminded me backstage that we’ve now known each other for 10 years.
Domingo: Yeah — no one knows this. We met in New York, wherever we were in our careers, and I cast Tom in a play about a robot sex doll and a soldier. Of course, he was the soldier, not the robot sex doll — though he could’ve played the robot sex doll. But we met there, and when I first saw his self-tape, I was like, “He’s incredible.” I was fanning out on him because I thought I saw something the rest of the world was just waiting to see — like a modern-day Robert De Niro or Al Pacino, truly. I was such a fan of yours since then, and even more so with everything you do. I’m just like, “That’s my guy. That’s him. I love your work.”
Pelphrey: Dude, that’s so incredible, thank you. And this guy, Colman, is — amongst actors, you always have this feeling about certain people, whose work is incredible, whose reputation is impeccable, and they’re just the nicest people. And then to get to see you skyrocket into the level of work you’re doing now, nominated for Oscars, getting the call from Steven Spielberg, right? That’s the joke, right? When you’re younger it’s like, “Well, if Spielberg calls…”
Domingo: OK, we’re done here, goodnight everybody! [Laughs] I’m just happy to be in conversation with you about craftsmanship, why you choose what you choose. First of all, thank you for that. I feel like you’re such a stellar actor, and I love the choices you’ve made. Congratulations on this — we were nominated together, actually, back in 2022. And now here we are again, showing up again. But I wanted to know — I binge-watched Task, and I was so moved by it, and by your character. At first I was like, “Oh, he’s a bad guy — something about the ponytail, what’s he doing with the garbage.” And then I was like, “Oh, he just wants to provide for his family.” I love the roles you choose. I’d love to know — how did this role come to you?
Pelphrey: Yeah, they sent the script and I read it, and I was just blown away by it. And I’m sure you can relate to this — it doesn’t happen very often — but as soon as I read it, I felt like I knew exactly who he was. It was like, “Quick, get a camera, I’ll read this scene right now.”
Domingo: Why did you feel that connection to him?
Pelphrey: I don’t know that I could always explain exactly why that happens. There’s some surface-level reasons that make sense, and there’s deeper reasons — he was doing everything for his kids, and I had just become a father. That resonated with me on a really deep level, actually fully understanding in my body that there’s nothing I wouldn’t do now for another human being. You just don’t really understand how full that can be until you know — at least I didn’t. But don’t you think sometimes a certain project comes in that you want to do as an actor, but that also, on some deeper level, you’re stepping into something as a human being? Can you talk to that?
Domingo: I do. I think that’s why we see each other’s work the way we do. I’ve always looked at every role as a calling — they’re calling me. If I get an offer for something, I’ll say, “Let me see what I actually have to give to it.” I have to go inside and figure out what I have to give — not just because it’s a good role, but what am I going to tap into, how is it going to change me in some way? Especially playing, as you say, a lot of people who are very different from myself. I’m nominated for Euphoria and for Four Seasons, and they’re two very different people — the Alis in Euphoria live in me in a very deep way.
These are ordinary, blue-collar guys just making their way through, trying to have a small impact, not a large one. I know these men — I grew up with guys like this — and I always feel like nobody ever tells their story. I get the chance to humanize them, give them complexity. And then I get to play somebody closer to the funny parts of me — in Four Seasons, I mean, not Euphoria. But that’s another calling, too. I feel like you do the same thing.
Pelphrey: Yeah, and I can relate to that in Task — a lot of that, growing up in Delco, isn’t completely dissimilar from growing up in the blue-collar neighborhood I grew up in, in New Jersey. And you’re right, these next-door stories get a voice — truly. My mom would drive an hour to see us when we were on set. There’s something about giving voice to that, having a deep love for those people, because that’s who I grew up with, who I was raised by, who I was for a long time. Making sure all of those people are shown with dignity and depth and complexity, not like a f—ing plot device.
When I watch you do Ali, it’s so crazy to me, because — what you’re saying — you have such a light. You’re such a light, you’re so positive. Every time I see you, you’re just beaming. I’m sure you have your moments, but you’re such a light. So to see you play Ali — wow, that’s kind of intense. That’s not who you walk around as. How conscious are you of that difference? What are you touching there? How are you preparing for Ali, and how has that grown?
Domingo: Well, this season, Sam gave me such an extraordinary task — to suffer the loss of the one thing that was keeping him tethered to this earth. He suffers this tremendous loss. Now, if I examine that — it’s a tremendous loss, and I’m very emotional, I wear my emotions on my sleeve. I thought, the way we built Ali as a character, knowing he’s had such a tremendous backstory of pain and grief and struggle and addiction — I think it numbs him out when this happens. He goes to zero, and the only way he’ll start to feel something again is by going on this path. We made decisions — like, timeline-wise, it’s about a month before he goes to another meeting. In that time, Sam asked me, “What do you think he does?” I said, “I think he walks the earth, looking for something good in people, looking for something to hang onto again, like everyone else is.” And then he gets to a place where he takes a sip from the bottle, goes to a meeting, and then goes on a revenge tour.
We shared a lot of information between us — especially this film, Rolling Thunder. Remember that? It’s a 1977 film, with William Devane — he loses everything, and you get to understand people who feel pushed up against the wall, with no other recourse. That’s why I felt like I needed to take him on that journey. Once he gets there, he’ll have grace, he’ll have redemption. But he’s got to go to the darkest places.
I tell people this — and I’d like to talk to you about this, too. People will say, “Colman, you play a lot of dark characters — I’ve seen you in Zola, in Joe Jackson” — and they’re like, “But you’re such a lighthearted person, you seem to lead with love.” And I say, “Yeah, but you know what? Everyone has darkness in them. You just have to find a way to tap into it and make it useful.” That’s why I’m drawn to those roles, honestly — because it’s so different from myself. I really want to put myself in someone else’s shoes. Do you feel that way, too?
Pelphrey: Yeah — an amazing teacher I had when I was younger, she beat this into our skulls, and I ultimately believe it’s so true. She was like, “You are everything. You are everything. You have known everything. It’s in your body, it’s in your soul.” She said it’s not about spending all your time in acting class — it’s about going and living a life, growing your mind, growing your heart, expanding your soul, expanding your experience. And then letting yourself be everything. Don’t tell yourself there are things outside yourself that you have to get to, because then you’re acting in a way that’s — she’d say, “That’s just acting. Anybody could do that.” I love what you said before — when you read something, you think to yourself, “What can I bring?” And brother, amen. I ask that all the time, because I’m like, this is someone’s baby — how many years did they spend on this script, how much time and money has gone into this whole—
Domingo: Service to it.
Pelphrey: In service to it — exactly. What can I bring? Not just, “What am I going to get out of this, is this good for me?” But: Do I really feel I have something to bring that is special, that is unique, that I can help this come to life — in my own way, big or small? That’s serious. And that’s how I felt when I read Task. I was like, “Give me, give me, give me — I have something to give.” It doesn’t happen all the time, and you can’t really control that, can you?
Domingo: No, you can’t control it at all. I think you just have to — people will say, “What are you doing next? What’s on the agenda?” And sometimes I’m like, “I don’t know, maybe it hasn’t been written yet.” I’ve never been a person who, when someone says, “Is there a role you’d like to play someday?” — I’m like, “Nah, I don’t know, actually.” Not even directors — I can’t even name people. Sometimes the team will sit down with you and say, “Let’s look at a list of directors you want to work with,” and I’m like, “It’s got to be specific to the project, the role, everything else around it. It can’t just be that thing.” I have to just hope that I’m ready, and that I have all the faculty to give something when it’s calling on me.
Pelphrey: You know what I—
Domingo: —mean?
Pelphrey: Yes. Yes. And you want it to be sacred, to mean something when you do it — and therefore, you want it to be sacred and mean something for everyone else, too. It’s like, you get something, and even if it’s good, if you don’t feel like it’s yours, it’s like: go get the person who’s meant to do this right now. They’ll be on fire for it, and that’s what you deserve. And that’s possible. This zero-sum, grab-grab-grab thing — I just don’t think it’s true. I haven’t found it to be true, anyway. That was a lot of my thinking when I was younger, and it causes so much anxiety and animosity and competition and blah, blah, blah. To be here tonight with you, to celebrate you — I feel—
Domingo: The same way with you.
Pelphrey: You know what I’m saying?
Domingo: No — honestly, I really admire this guy. I feel like this is a cheat, we’re just using this as an excuse. No, I admire this guy, I admire his choices — I think he’s an actor’s actor. I really want to get a little more under the hood, too, because literally any time I see you, I think, “Oh, he looks different, he’s taller, something’s different about him.” I want to know how you craft your work, your characters. Give us a little bit behind the curtain, especially with this character on Task. Listen — I’m from Philly, so I was judging the Philly accent.
Pelphrey: I know.
Domingo: They did good. They did good. It was one of the first lines — I’m like, they mentioned water ice. They mentioned a few things, and I’m like, OK, you guys are really doing the Philly thing.
Pelphrey: Well, I’ll tell you, too — I’m sober, and I thought you were a good sponsor. So we were checking each other out. [Laughs]
Domingo: Thank you.
Pelphrey: Thanks, man.
Domingo: How did you craft this role?
Pelphrey: Look, I do think that, on some level, the most important part of it is a little mysterious, and I try not to get in the way or interfere or think too much. What I’ve found, more and more lately — which seems strange — is that the deeper I want to work, the more it’s just literal, surface-level things that I know are obvious, that I can control. We had a lot of time before we had to start filming this, so it was like, “OK — he grew up in Philly, he’s gonna have tattoos, he’s gonna love Allen Iverson because he grew up at that time, in that city.” Just thinking about that stuff — the literal stuff. And then you just let it sink in — when you shower, when you go for a run, when you’re sleeping.
It just comes alive. And I’m daydreaming now, and my daydreams start to feel like memories — memories I have about my brother, who I lost, who’s in the show for 30 seconds. But it was the whole show, to me. I’m going to get emotional — I have my brother, but that’s what I thought about the whole time. And everything flows from that, but the audience never sees that — that’s not in the show. He’s there for five minutes. And thankfully, Brad [Task creator Brad Ingelsby] is so smart — he shows just a scene of them having fun, their love, so you get a sense of what was taken.
Domingo: And then what you’re fighting for, what your—
Pelphrey: —character’s fighting, exactly. Why you’re doing what you’re doing — you’re doing it to take care of these kids, and you’re extra motivated because they were robbed, and you were robbed of something you should not have been robbed of. I saw an interview where you guys were talking about this third season, and this sense of — we’re going to go Old Testament. That’s pretty wild. How does it feel, though? Because this is something I’ve never really done — you’ve spent years in this character, with Zendaya. This must be heavy, to end it this way.
Domingo: It is. And I keep saying — I feel like when I first got pitched the ending, in Sam’s office… we were just hanging out, usually I’ll go over for food, and then we’re just hanging out. And he says, “Colman, I want to give you some ideas” — because he talks like an old New Yorker, he’s like, “Colman, I got some ideas about it. I’m going to go Old Testament, but also it’s the framework of an American Western — because Westerns are just good and bad, that’s it.” And I was like, “Great.” So I knew he was really developing something. He said to me, “You know how it’s always narrated by Zendaya’s character?” He said, “But then we get to episode seven, and Ali is narrating.” And I was like, “What? Why?” And then I said, “Oh no, no, no, no, no.” And he said, “It’s the reality of sometimes we lose.”
And there was no other path for her character. My character’s the only one who can help us, because he’s been the oracle, he’s been the sage, he’s been the pastor — he’s been the moment of truth for the characters. So he’s the one who can give us some redemption, lead us to grace — that there’s grace for everyone. I think that’s why it was such a wild season. People have been trying to distill it, put it all together, and it’s just big themes happening. I think looked at on the surface, it’s actually — I always wish the show came out all at once, because then people could bridge it and put it all together, because it has so much size — the size of a Western and the Old Testament. There are burning bushes and things like that in the season.
And then he leaves you with a prayer. I think — for anyone who has struggled with the disease of addiction — it really is a prayer for all of us, to say that we’re all hurting in some way, in our culture. It’s not just about people who are addicted to anything — it’s about people, about social media, about all this stuff. We’re all hurting, we’re all yearning for something. But hopefully your life has some meaning, and your memory will have meaning while you’re here. Try to do what you can, even if it’s just a little bit — in our work, the way you grace it, the way you set up a set, the way you walk into a room — that you’re doing it to give. And that’s the gift.
Pelphrey: And I’ll say, as someone who’s been there — yeah, as someone who’s been there — your beautiful work is such a conduit for healing on that level. Your face, your voice, the way you did everything, was true. We need more true. Thank you.
Domingo: And that’s why I honestly love and admire you, brother. I look forward to spending more time with you — I look forward to when we get to be in the ring together.
