“The Chosen” actor Jonathan Roumie recently described how it feels to play the role of humanity’s savior in the hit TV show centered around the life of Jesus Christ. Sitting down on the “Pints with Aquinas” podcast, Roumie explained the ups and downs of his role in the series.
“I need to rely on people to remind me of the last several years because they’ve been so insane,” Roumie said. “It’s been so overwhelming at times, and I’ve met so many people, and I’ve shown up so many places, and I kind of have relegated a lot of the experiences.”
The actor explained that he often meets fans who would explain how his work had changed their lives. “If I show up at a conference and then I have met a bunch of people that pour their heart out to me and tell me, like, what’s been going on in their lives and how my work has affected them, it just sort of puts me into a different mode where all of a sudden I think my brain has to just shut down or just kind of portion away moments,” he said.
“The show had been popular like started to get globally popular for about a year,” Roumie continued, explaining the show’s rise to prominence around the time of the pandemic. “During the pandemic, we released the show for free as a sort of a gesture to kind of commit to peace and comfort and reducing the anxiety that everyone was feeling. So, we just kind of gave the show away and the show blew up after we gave it away for free.”
The Christian Tribune reported on previous comments made by Roumie where he explained the personal impact that playing Jesus has had on him. The actor noted that through playing Jesus in the show, he has been inspired to become more like Him in daily life.
“It’s made me want to be more like him in my day to day. You know, the more time you spend with him, the more unavoidable it is that he’s going to have an effect on your heart, no matter who you are, where you’ve come from, and even if you’re already believer, like I was going into these projects, it just, it just deepens exponentially your wish to kind of know him on, on a much more spiritually fundamental level, emotionally fundamental level, physically fundamental level,” he said on the red carpet.
Roumie further explained the pressures of playing Jesus, “Well, I think the fame is part of the challenge of doing it, because people, the way people receive the role, and how they receive you when they meet you. It kind of feels like the lines blurred. It’s part of what I explore in my documentary ‘Jonathan and Jesus’, kind of like what that means and what it looks like in real-time. And I think it’s also, you know, trying to live up to the expectations of God, of myself, playing the Son of God. So it’s kind of like a, it’s like a litmus test for myself, a spiritual litmus test, using my art, and I welcome it, but it’s also difficult at times, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
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