Colman Domingo is now one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, but he hasn’t forgotten what it took to get his start — including how much it cost to live in San Francisco as a young actor in the ’90s.
The actor reflected on his experience living in the Bay Area, after he relocated here from his hometown of Philadelphia, during a recent appearance on Amy Poehler’s “Good Hang” podcast.
Domingo was on the show to promote “Disclosure Day,” the new science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg in which he stars with Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor and Colin Firth. The movie hits theaters Friday, June 12.
“I moved to San Francisco, and it was four guys living in a studio apartment in the Tenderloin,” he recalled during the episode released Tuesday, June 9. “I literally slept in a closet.”
Domingo’s arrangement meant the roommates split the $625 rent four ways, each paying $156.25 a month — an amount that is nearly impossible to find in today’s market.
Over the past few years, rent in the city has spiked dramatically as the tech boom has continued to squeeze out those with lower incomes.
As of April 2026, the estimated median rent in the Tenderloin, whose primary ZIP code is 94102, was $2,300, according to a Chronicle study. That figure is up 9% from last year.
To help make ends meet, Domingo said he worked as a bartender in the city while writing plays, one of which was about the queen of disco, Donna Summer.
In another story from his days living in the Bay Area, the Academy Award-nominated actor, who wrapped the final season of “Euphoria” last month, shared the chance encounter that led him to meet his husband, Raúl Domingo, in 2005.
Domingo had moved to New York after 10 years in San Francisco but returned for a role at Berkeley Repertory Theater, he told Poehler. While in Berkeley, he recalled, “crossing paths, going into a Walgreens, with the most beautiful person I think I’ve ever seen.”
They didn’t talk during that initial encounter, but later — after Domingo considered posting a Craigslist Missed Connections advertisement — he discovered Raúl had already placed an ad seeking to find him.
“We met three days later, had our first date, and I literally was like, ‘I think I love you, and you’re going to change my life,’” Domingo said.
Domingo now lives with his husband of 12 years in Malibu.