Colman Domingo will play gay rights
activist Bayard Rustin in the Netflix film Rustin.
Deadline
first reported the casting on Tuesday.
Rustin is the first feature film
from Higher Ground, the production company founded in 2018 by former
President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama.
Rustin, an African-American gay man,
was an early leader in social movements for civil rights and gay
rights. In 2013, Obama posthumously awarded him the Presidential
Medal of Freedom for his activism.
The film is based on a script
co-written by Dustin Lance Black (Milk) and George C. Wolfe
(Ma Rainey's Black Bottom).
Rounding out the cast are Chris Rock
(Fargo, Top Five), Glynn Turman (Ma Rainey's Black
Bottom), and Audra McDonald (Respect).
Domingo, who married husband Raul
Domingo in 2014, is best known for his performances in Lincoln,
Selma, If Beale Street Could Talk, and Ma Rainey's
Black Bottom.