Colman Domingo & his hubby had the most loving reaction to his history-making Oscar nom

Out gay actor Colman Domingo may be up for an Academy Award, but he still gets nervous, just like the rest of us.

The nominees for the prestigious award show were announced on Tuesday morning, but the 54-year-old star, who started working in Hollywood in the '90s, was so anxious to hear the news that he couldn't sleep.

"I woke up early because my body knew what day it was," he told Variety. "I decided to organize my closet at 5 a.m. My husband (Raúl) was watching the feed. When they said my name, he literally laid on the floor. We had a little cry together. It's unbelievable as someone who has been doing this work for three decades."

Domingo has been nominated for Best Actor for his role as gay civil rights leader Bayard Rustin in Netflix's Rustin, making him only the second out gay man in the 95-year history of the Academy Awards to be nominated for an Oscar for playing a gay character. The first was Sir Ian McKellen, who was nominated when he played gay director James Whale in 1998's Gods and Monsters. Domingo is also making history as the first Afro-Latino actor to be nominated in the Oscars' Best Actor category.

"Hopefully, I won't be the last," Domingo said when asked about his history-making Oscar nod. "There are incremental changes, but we need more people to champion these stories. It doesn't have to look like you to be about you."

While it's not unusual for straight actors to win awards for playing gay roles — last year, Brendan Fraser took home an Academy Award for playing a gay man in The Whale, and Olivia Coleman won one in 2019 for her role in The Favourite — it is almost unheard of for a gay actor to get that same acclaim for playing a queer character.

Even this year's Best Actor race includes Bradley Cooper, who is nominated for his role as queer composer Leonard Bernstein in Maestro. Also up for the award are Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers), Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer), and Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction).

After watching Domingo slay the red carpet for years, it will be exciting to see what kind of look his stylists Wayman + Micah will come up with this time. At the 2021 Oscars, he rocked a fitted hot pink suit, and at this year's Critics Choice Awards, he stunned in a mustard yellow couture Valentino suit with Christian Louboutin shoes and a gold overcoat.

"I love telling a story with clothing," he explained. "I want to be the whole party. I want to inspire people to dance and have a good time."

As for what the talented actor wants to do next — this year, he also starred as Mister in The Color Purple and continued his role as Vitor Strand in Fear the Walking Dead — he's thinking outside the box.

"I'd love to work with Yorgos [Lanthimos] in something like Poor Things, or to be a Bond villain," he said. "I'm not interested in whatever anyone has seen me do before."