President's Charge to Colman Domingo

Colman Domingo, though now based in Los Angeles, you are still connected to your roots in West Philly, just a short ride from here. At Temple University, you majored in journalism before a theater class inspired you to change direction and pursue a life on stage and screen.

Your success — as an actor, playwright, and director — didn’t come overnight, but it is undeniable: From celebrated performances in Passing Strange and The Scottsboro Boys, to featured roles in Euphoria, The Color Purple, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and, more recently, your back-to-back, Oscar-nominated star turns in Rustin and Sing Sing. In all of your work, you have infused your characters with intelligence, fierceness, and an energy that can be as quiet or as kinetic as necessary.

And you’re not done yet.

Colman, you have shown us that the path forward is often unpredictable, but when traveled with patience, purpose, grace — and in style — it can lead to extraordinary places. Now, upon the recommendation of the faculty, and by the power vested in me by the Board of Managers of Swarthmore College and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I have the honor to bestow upon you the degree of Doctor of Arts.