Colman Domingo was on the phone wandering through a chemist in search of an evening face mask when a stranger with luscious locks and a lip piercing walked past.
It was a Sunday night in 2005 and the then struggling actor was in a Walgreens in California.
Domingo and the stranger lock eyes before the stranger walked out of the store with a young woman. Domingo had no idea he had just met his future husband.
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"I see this guy and we look at each other I'm like 'oh my God'," the Oscar nominee told the Graham Norton Show in February this year of the moment he first met husband Raúl.
"I'm on the phone and I come outside and we look at each other and he's talking to this young woman, she seems to be angry about something."
As Domingo finished his phone call Raúl and the young woman were metres ahead of him walking down the street. Yet, despite the growing distance, Raul kept looking back.
The Color Purple star waved. His attempt to catch Raúl's attention failed.
Unbeknownst to Domingo, Raúl and his friend were on their way to a party. They were rushing and had stepped into the Walgreens to buy some "sorry I'm late" chocolate.
Dumbfounded by the encounter, Domingo ventured across the road to a Blockbuster video store.
"I don't even know what I'm doing," he recalled. "But I decided to look at my watch and it was 8.03pm. I came outside and thought 'is he here?'
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In his dazed state, the Europhia star thought about returning to the chemist the following Sunday in case Raúl was there.
"I'm that kind of hopeless romantic," the 54-year-old said.
Three days later, he was searching online classified website Craigslist for a second-hand computer. While he was scanning the ads, Domingo thought about Raúl.
"I thought maybe I'll place one of those misconnections ads, I wonder if they work? Because I'd read them on the subway," Domingo, who now lives in New York, said.
"I go to page two as I'm reading and I saw 'Saw you outside of Walgreens, Berkeley'."
It was Raúl's ad for Domingo.
"He placed an ad for me two hours before," he said, adding that Raúl described him with his 2005 faux hawk hairstyle.
"I jumped up, I was like 'are you kidding me? That's me'.
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Raúl, a producer and director, drafted the Craigslist post a day earlier before posting it.
It would all be worth it. When Raúl arrived home that evening he checked his Yahoo account. There was an email from Domingo that began: "To the sweet angel with the most arresting eyes…"
Fast forward another three days and the two went on their first date to a small bar in San Francisco.
"I was trying to be a good boy and go home. He said 'can you stay over?' I said 'sure, but let's just cuddle'," Domingo said.
"We cuddled. I thought he was asleep and at 4am I couldn't sleep and I said 'I think I love you and you're about to change my life'" and we've been together for almost 19 years."
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The couple's bond appeared unbreakable from early on.
When Domingo booked an acting ob in Alaska, Raúl followed.
As well as his talents as a producer, Raúl has also worked in the fashion industry. He secured a job on set as an assistant costume designer.
By the following November, they moved to New York and soon were engaged.
The couple married nine years after they first met in a small ceremony masquerading as a house party.
Twenty-five people were invited to the party and were greeted with "Welcome to our wedding".
In January this year, Domingo scored his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor for Rustin.
He was in the bathroom cleaning after nerves woke him early. Raúl was sitting in front of the couple's fireplace, eyes glued to the news.
The actor then heard a ding from his phone. It was his manager saying "Congratulations Oscar nominee". He was too shocked to reply.
"I then looked over at my husband, who was still listening, and I heard 'Bradley Cooper' and 'Colman Domingo.' My husband completely lays on the floor and starts crying. That's when my brain caught up so then I started crying," Domingo told People.
"I picked him up and we jumped up and down. Then, it was joy. It was great."
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