Actor Colman Domingo, who is seeing success in his recent film The Color Purple, has spoken about his experience working with former President Barack Obama on the film Rustin. During an interview, he dove into what the screenplay’s content meant to him personally.

Released back in November on Netflix, Domingo shared on Today’s Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist that the former president told him that without Bayard Rustin, who was the mastermind behind the 1963 March on Washington during the Civil Rights Movement, there would be no Barack Obama.

In the video interview of the Sunday Sitdown, Domingo said one of the reasons why this story of Rustin was buried was because Rustin was an openly gay man, like Domingo.

Domingo says it was incredible to bring attention to what Rustin brought to the Civil Rights Movement and how the crew told the story of who he was and the complexities of a human being.

These recent successes come at the height of Domingo’s career. Not only did he finish an eight-season tenure on Fear The Walking Dead, but he also recently got an Emmy Award for portraying Ali Muhammad in the HBO series Euphoria. 

Domingo says that all of his work, from Off-Broadway plays to the emotions he has felt throughout his career, was all put into Rustin.

Other works of Domingo include the 2012 movie Lincoln, the Jackie Robinson biopic 42 (2013), and another Civil Rights film, Selma (2014).