There’s so much joy in Colman Domingo’s portrayal of Bayard Rustin, in Netflix’s eponymous biopic, that you can’t help but see some of the actor’s ebullience seeping into the character. This marks the first time ever that Domingo, a 30-plus-year veteran of stage and screen, has been number one on a film call sheet—a staggering fact when you consider his talent, charisma, and past proximity to major projects and stars. But yes, it took this long—and so what? Domingo isn’t complaining. The belated milestone is a gift, the way he tells it on this week’s Little Gold Men (listen or read below). This is an artist who takes opportunities as they come, who loves doing the work, and whose steady rise can be credited to a willingness—however fair or not, navigating the industry’s historically limited scope of opportunities for Black, openly queer actors—to wait for his turn.

Rustin is directed by the theater-world icon George C. Wolfe, whose last film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, also starred Domingo in a memorable supporting role. (He was nominated for a SAG Award as part of the ensemble.) He plays the civil rights activist whose pivotal role in organizing the March on Washington was pushed to the sidelines both in the moment and in later retellings largely because of his sexuality. Yet the movie proves anything but a glum, stuffy portrait of a man marginalized for living his authentic self. Domingo’s spark blasts through the screen in the same way, you’d expect, Rustin’s indefatigability allowed him to enact change despite the myriad attempts to shut him down.

A guide to Hollywood’s biggest races

All this makes Domingo a perfect fit for this part. The actor has been on an upswing of late in Hollywood, between starring roles on the series Fear the Walking Dead and Euphoria (the latter of which won him an Emmy) and meaty supporting big-screen turns in Zola and the upcoming The Color Purple—which, like Rustin, has vaulted Domingo into the Oscar conversation as never before. He calls this moment “extraordinary”—and as he feels his way through it in our conversation, it’s not hard to see why.

Vanity Fair: You’ve said one of your missions in Rustin is to make sure people never forget who this man is again. Can you talk about the responsibility of stepping into the role?

Colman Domingo: It’s tremendous. I have a photo of Bayard Rustin on my wall because he really is a north star in many ways of being purposeful and intentional in the world and being your whole full self without apology. So I knew that there was a tremendous undertaking, especially a film like this where I’m pretty much in every frame of this film. And it’s seismic what I have to do. It requires you to be a bit of a virtuoso in a way, because he was a virtuoso. This was a man that doesn’t come along every day. He played the lute and sang Elizabeth and love songs, was a star athlete, and he was a young communist.

He was openly gay at a time when it would cost him his entire livelihood, and also be a violation to his body in many ways, so there was a great opportunity to infuse this character that is unsung in history with as much humanity, as much complexity, as much love and grace, enthusiasm and passion as I could, because also I felt a responsibility not only to, because it’s the first time history is really being pulled out of the history books and told, but because there are people who are living who you’re beholden to. People who knew him, who worked side by side with him and knew of his impact and influence, also questioned why he was pretty much erased from the history books.

It’s what I can do as an artist. Those rare times you get as an artist to really pour everything you have into it—all your skills and all the things you’ve been doing in the theater and television as a writer, as a director, as a producer, to create this film—it called on everything that I had. I couldn’t have done this film I think 20 years ago. It wouldn’t make sense. The wildest thing is I just realized just the other day that Bayard was 51 years old when he organized the march in Washington, and I was 51 years old when I filmed it. I needed that history.

You’re also talking about the career of a working actor in your first feature where you’re number one on the call sheet. Am I right about that?

Yeah, absolutely. Which is for me to actually recognize that, because I’ve just been too busy just doing work. You keep your nose to the ground, you’re doing the work and showing up. I didn’t even realize that I hadn’t been number one on the call sheet. I’ve just been trying to get work. I’ve been number three, I’ve been number four, I’ve been number nine, I’ve been number 68. But I hope that people can see that this is the work of a journeyman and an artist that has been working for a very long time. It hasn’t been the easiest road, but it has been a fulfilling road.

What stayed with me about Rustin was your exuberance in the part. Obviously a lot of that comes from the man himself, but from what I’m hearing and from what I saw, it also sounded like that was you a little bit.

I think so. I was raised by a mother and a father who really helped me shape my idea of this world, believing that the world is more good than not. I’m very hopeful. I know I’m a joyful person. I wake up with a smile. I wake up excited about the possibilities of what this is going to be like and what I can do and be a part of in it. I’m an optimistic person. So also I knew that that was a part of Bayard. That was very true. Anyone who knew him said that he had charisma for days, and he was excited about what tomorrow brings. I knew that we were brothers in that way. I know I can bring that part in myself, that fullness in myself and my experience without apology.

Did it feel strange at all to suddenly be the person setting the tone? I would imagine you’d observed a lot of other people do it, maybe some better than others.

It is, yet, I have been the character that has helped set the tone in many films that I was not the lead in. I would point to Selma with David Oyelowo. I prayed with David before his speeches. I would make him laugh. I’m like the warmup guy…. I was the one there making sure the rest of the company was doing good, and I would make sure we were having dance parties on the days off and stuff like that. I was the party planner around it to make sure that my central character can do what they need to do.

Now, for this experience, yes, I was the birthday boy and I was planning the party. After so many years in this industry, I kind of knew how to do it. I knew the shortcomings in the blind spots of other number one on the call sheets, and I knew the traps of being number one in the call sheet too. I didn’t want to be in a silo. I’m actually a leader of people, so I have to be involved with people. I couldn’t just all of a sudden just have this scene around me. That didn’t make sense, that didn’t make sense with the intention of this film. And that carried over to my next film was Color Purple; Fantasia [Barrino] had a lot to carry, and so did I as number two in the call sheet. But I also was responsible to make sure that the women I’m supporting in this film have all that they need so they can do their work, because it really is about them. The beautiful thing is it’s skills that I’ve already had.

What was the window like between Rustin and The Color Purple?

Five minutes. [Laughs] I filmed Rustin and then I think I had maybe a couple weeks off and went straight to Color Purple, and then I shot another film of mine that premiered at TIFF that I produced called Sing Sing. Then I went back to do pickups of Rustin the next day. I did three films back to back.

And completely different characters. There is a real darkness in terms of what you have to bring to Color Purple, portraying Mister. How did you find that transition?

It points to the early work that I did in the theater. I was always sort of the utility actor who played five different roles. I know how to hold five different experiences all at the same time. I’ve done solo plays where sometimes I would play seven characters at one time in a scene together, and I know how to hold them fully, physically, emotionally, with their language, and make them as unique as possible. It’s a skill set that I didn’t know I needed for the work that I would do in the future—but even while I’m working on Rustin, I know how to prep for another role that’s very different from that experience. I know how to separate these two.

That just comes from doing what I’ve been doing for over 32 years. I don’t know if I’m good at everything, but I’m good at that.

You’re built for this moment you’re having in a lot of ways, right?

Yes. I would say yes I am. I’m lucky that these moments of amplification in my career are happening now and not 10, 20 years ago. I have a grounded sense of who I am and what I do in this industry, that it doesn’t become insanely noisy. There’s a knowingness of your work and your work ethic, and who you are and what you believe in.

This interview has been edited and condensed.