It’s common, maybe even natural, for audiences to conflate actors with the roles they play. To assume, for example, that an onscreen action hero is tough offscreen too, or that a rom-com star is a real-life charmer. That blurring of lines is probably a sign that an actor is doing something right, but it doesn’t make the dynamic any less strange or confusing. Especially if the character you’re famous for playing is Jesus Christ.

Since 2017, Jonathan Roumie has starred as Jesus on “The Chosen,” a hit series that takes a prestige-TV approach to the story told in the canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Neither piously solemn nor portentously heavy-handed, “The Chosen,” which was created by Dallas Jenkins (son of the author Jerry Jenkins, a co-writer of the hugely popular “Left Behind” books), instead displays snappy dialogue, tense interpersonal drama, unexpected humor and high production values.

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Jonathan Roumie Plays Jesus to Millions. It Can Get Intense.The star of “The Chosen” discusses his early struggles in Hollywood, fans who conflate him with his character and how his own faith informs his work.

[MUSIC PLAYING] “The hour is coming.” “It’s not always easy playing Jesus Christ. Just ask Jonathan Roumie. Since 2017, Roumie has been the star of the global hit series ‘The Chosen.’ The series takes a prestige TV approach to the story of Jesus. It’s full of sharp dialogue —” “You’re losing something.” “— interpersonal drama, unexpected humor and high production values. That slickly appealing modern interpretation, centered on Roumie’s warm and relatable portrayal, has helped the show to become a massive success. It’s been watched by more than 250 million people, and will return for its fifth season under creator Dallas Jenkins next year. Roumie and I talked about how his Catholicism influences his portrayal of Jesus —” “I feel that it lends an authenticity to the role.” “— the pressures of living up to his fans’ expectations —” “People yell out, ‘Jesus.’” “— and what he sees as a worrisome retreat from religion in American life.” “Society at large has vanished it from visible culture.” “I’m David Marchese. Here’s my interview with Jonathan Roumie.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “So you’ve been playing Jesus on ‘The Chosen’ for five seasons now. What sort of conversations did you and Dallas have initially about the kind of Jesus that you wanted to show? Because your Jesus, it’s a very different portrayal than Jim Caviezel’s Jesus in ‘The Passion of the Christ’ or Willem Dafoe’s in ‘The Last Temptation of Christ.’ Or you know what else is a good one but also very different than yours is Max von Sydow —” “Oh yeah.” “— in ‘The Greatest Story —” - [INAUDIBLE] “— Ever Told.’ But all those Jesuses, or Jesi, I don’t know what — they to me feel of a piece, kind of. There’s a solemnity to them. And your Jesus is a much more, in some ways, contemporary feeling Jesus.” “I think what makes it feel like that, that we have that all of those other portrayals didn’t have access to, was the format of time in long-form storytelling to build characters and build relationships over episodes. You’re seeing the nuances of his character, his quirks, the things that nobody’s ever taken the time to explore are the humanity of these characters, the day to day of these characters. And so if you believe they existed, and I do, they were human beings. So theology aside, nobody’s ever explored that humanity. Nobody’s ever wondered, Well, what would it be like to crack a joke with Jesus, to have a glass of wine with Jesus, to see him dancing at a wedding? Because if you’re human, laughing, and joking, and frustration, and the entire spectrum of emotions are part of the human process, part of the human journey, part of the struggle. He went through all of these things that we do so that we would have somebody to relate to as we’re going through these trials ourselves.” “Did you have any apprehension about showing a version of Jesus that isn’t one that’s typically shown?” “I didn’t because I think he has to feel human. If he doesn’t feel human, most people won’t relate to him. I mean, granted, there might be scenarios from time to time where —— and I’ve shared this with Dallas — where he and I may not have exactly alignment on, like, well, I feel like if he says it like this, it’s just a little too casual, you know?” “Yeah.” “And he then may come back to me and say, ‘Yeah, but here’s why.’ And then he goes through it. I’m like, OK, I get that.” “I’m just, in my head, I was thinking of that sort of cliche of an actor saying, ‘Oh, what’s my motivation?’ And in your case, the answer was, he’s got to bring about the salvation of the world. Play it like that.” “Saving souls. I’ve got to save more souls.” “And so the decision was made that you were going to do ‘The Chosen.’ Before that, maybe scuffling is too strong of a word, but you were just sort of a jobbing actor.” “Struggle busing.” “Struggle busing. How does it happen that a struggle busing actor makes it big playing Jesus?” “I think that the path to that is absolute and uncompromising surrendering to a higher power things that are beyond my control. Because that’s what it took, I believe, for me to get to the place where I was ready for an opportunity like this. I had moved to L.A. And then I struggled for eight years in Los Angeles, only to realize that I was trying so hard to control my life, to control my destiny, to do the things that I thought needed to be done to have a successful career as an actor. And they weren’t working. I was on government assistance. That ran out. I woke up completely broke one morning six and a half years ago. And I was literally in — I didn’t see any way out that I could figure out how to make work. And so I literally said, God, you take this from me. It’s in your hands now. It’s not up to me. And I’m not going to worry about it. And I was relieved because I really felt now it wasn’t my choice. And then three months later ‘The Chosen’ comes along. And I thought, OK, I just needed to submit.” “I know that you’re a practicing Catholic.” “Yeah.” “What does your faith allow you to give to the role that a nonbeliever or a non-Catholic might not be able to give?” “I feel that it lends an authenticity to the role that allows me to understand more of why Jesus did the things he did and said the things he did than somebody who is completely unfamiliar. And I think I struggle to follow Jesus like anybody else who considers themselves a Christian. But the struggle is part of it. And I think God knows what we struggle with, but we’re still challenged to do what he would do in those situations. And I think because I actually believe that, that seems to have lent me a kind of credibility and an authenticity in approaching the character that maybe people haven’t seen.” “It’s interesting because you’re saying that who you are allows you to play the role of Jesus with a particular authenticity. Do you feel that someone who is a nonbeliever could credibly and authentically play that part?” “I think they could. I think if they had, if they had a real understanding of what he represented and why he was so much of a revolutionary to his time and even to today, I think they could. I mean, in layman’s terms, you’d have to do your research and drop into the character and go Daniel Day-Lewis on it and for three months, you know, go live as a rabbi in a kibbutz or something like that. I don’t know. But I think with a character like Jesus, I think a lot of people do sort of reduce him to a really great teacher, cool guy, shared a lot —— He becomes a sandaled hippie in a lot of people’s minds. They’re like, Oh, you know, he said some cool stuff, and he did some cool things. And it’s like, I think he was a little more than that.” “Yeah, yeah. He came to be a sword.” “Yeah, yeah, yes.” “When I would watch videos of you giving talks for crowds, you come out, and very often, it seems a wave of applause, really like an overwhelming response. And the idea that you’re getting that sort of attention combined with the fact that you’re getting it for playing Jesus strikes me as a potentially psychologically and spiritually combustible situation. Does it feel that way to you?” “No because I recognize that none of this is about me. I don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. And so I recognize that when I come out to those speeches and people react the way they do and people yell out, ‘Jesus,’ that they’re seeing me as the face of the guy that they’ve had this response to, this reaction to, while experiencing the show. And I’m the closest thing to the real Jesus that they probably will ever see in person. And so I think psychologically they know I’m not Jesus. But they feel, they want me to be the next best thing. I cannot go anywhere near that reality. But that said, if I believe everything I believe about my faith, I’m in this position for a reason. I was cast as Jesus, and somebody else wasn’t. Why? God only knows why.” “You’re saying essentially that you become a human icon for people. The thing that I don’t quite understand is how you separate the idea that, as you said, you’re nothing here, you don’t matter ——” “Dust in the wind.” “—— but then also with what you said about feeling like you’ve been put here for a reason. You’re saying there is something special about you. Those seem to me like somewhat contradictory ideas. How do you reconcile them? And then, also, there was never some small part of you that’s like, Oh, I am special, there’s people liking me because I’m special and that means that I matter in some way? None of that little sort of ego gratification, temptation, ever creeps into your head?” “I think if I said there wasn’t anything at all, I’d be lying. Do I allow it to become my reason for doing what I do? No. So the paradox that you’re describing, I guess it is kind of hard to make that distinction. Yes, there’s for me a sense of mission but the mission is about Jesus, in this case, with ‘The Chosen.’ It’s about God. That’s what this experience is in playing this role when I meet fans who come out. Well, I was just in the Philippines, and it was nuts, man. Like, I’ve never seen anything like it. They were tremendous. They’re just so intense. And everywhere I go, they’re, like, giving me stuff and little articles, and notes and things like that. And so I’m playing this character that people, for the most part, they already love him. They have a relationship with him. And then I come in, and I sort of fulfill their idea of who that person is to them in their life. And I’m also one of them in that I have a relationship. And a lot of them know that. And a lot of fans know how I feel about Jesus, and God, and faith, and all of those things. And so I think all of that combined, I think it’s the reason for my career.” “So you go to these events, and, like you described, thousands of people are cheering or coming up to you. And you also are asked to come and speak at things like the National Eucharistic Congress. Or you gave a commencement address at the Catholic University of America. You spoke at the March for Life in Washington last year. These sort of demands on your time and on your being, are they ever exhausting in any sense? Do you feel like you’re being asked to give maybe more than you have to give?” “It can be draining, the rigors of travel alone. But then human interaction — if I’m meeting you at one of these events and something has moved you to want to come and have this individual moment that oftentimes happens at some of these things where they’ll have, like, V.I.P. groups that have — there are certain people that get to have some one-on-one time, but there’s 700 of them. That takes time. And it takes energy. And a lot of the times it’s emotionally charged. And better or worse, that catches up with you after 700 encounters.” “Was there a particularly difficult encounter that comes to mind?” “Yes, I was at a conference in a stadium of about 40,000 people. And I came off the stage, and shortly thereafter, I got to the little green room where they had us hanging out. And security comes into the room and says, Hey, there’s a lady outside who’s got a child in a wheelchair. Is it OK? She wants to know if she can say hello. And I came outside and I met the lady and her son. And she was already overwhelmed. And she then went on to tell me, she said, you know, ‘Our favorite episode is the episode where Tamar, one of the characters, lets her friend down on a stretcher in through the roof of Zebedee’s house and Jesus heals him. And he can walk again.’ And she says, ‘So I just thought, Wouldn’t it be great if the same thing happened to my son?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, that would be amazing. But I got to be honest with you, as far as I know, I don’t have that gift. But I would love to pray with you, if that’s OK.’ I said, ‘Would that be all right?’ She’s like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I just sat there with them, or stood with them, and I prayed with them for a minute. And they were so gracious and thanked me. And I walked away. And then I just burst into tears. Because I thought to myself, Man, on some level, I must have let them down. But they know, they know what I do. They know I’m not a healer. I’m not a preacher. So once I got through that line of thought, I recognized that — I said, OK, I can’t be what she maybe wanted me to be. I can only be who I’ve been made to be.” “There’s a way in which experiences like that call to mind for me a kind of — you could almost call it like a category error about the position that you find yourself in, where you’re an actor. And because you play this role you are put into positions that probably an actor shouldn’t be put into. It seems like increasingly you are becoming a figure of authority. When you’re asked by people to come talk to groups of Catholics, what do you think they want from you in that setting? And is there a part of you that thinks like — I understand you’ve been put here to do something. But is there a part of you that thinks, This is messed up, I’m an actor, Why ask me? Ask a theologian. Ask a priest.” “That’s a great question. I mean, I think the category error thing is kind of funny because I think all of us, all of us are not the sum total of what we do. I think you by what you do as an interviewer and the questions that you ask people and the things that you bring out of people shed light on humanity in ways that other people wouldn’t know how to do. And so in many ways, you have a gift for humanity that you might not even be considering in that light, you know what I mean?” “Well, I 100 percent agree with everything you just said.” “No but it’s true. But no, but it’s absolutely true because we’re not just, I don’t think we’re just meant to be here to just eke out a living and get a job and maybe have a family, make some money and then die. Like, if we have a conversation and some sort of fruit comes out of that for somebody else hearing this interview — and all of a sudden, the trajectory that they were on all of a sudden changes. And then it changes for the better. And then they learned something or they had misconceptions about Christians or Catholics or non-Christians that they didn’t before. And now they have a better dialogue. It’s like, I don’t give my political opinions out publicly.” “Well, not quite true. I mean, talking at the March for Life.” “Well, here’s what I’ll say about that.” “Which I should explain is a pro-life, also call it anti-abortion, rally that happens every year in Washington.” “Yeah. And I was on the fence about speaking there because I recognize that for so many people it is only political. For me, it is only spiritual.” “Can you tease that out for me?” “So if I come to a conference like the March for Life and they want me to share thoughts, well, I’m thinking like, well, what do I believe? As a Catholic, I believe in the sanctity of life from the moment of conception. That’s what we believe as Catholics and Christians. And so for me, it’s a spiritual thing that has been usurped and turned into a political weapon that divides people in such a way where they no longer see the spirituality of the issue. It becomes completely about right or left, conservative or liberal. I don’t understand it. So for me, that wasn’t politics. That was spirituality. You can’t cherry pick the aspects of your faith you like and dispense the things you don’t like. You said it yourself, I came not to bring peace, but to bring a sword. Fathers will divide themselves against their sons, mothers and daughters, because of things like this, these kinds of issues that I think for Jesus, it’s like, If you’re going to follow me, it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be really hard, and people will hate you. Get used to it.” “Why is abortion the issue where you chose to make your voice public and not other things that are central to Jesus’s teachings like treatment of the poor, for example?” “I mean, I do do that. In fact, I was just in Tanzania and Rwanda visiting these children that I support and their families, which I had been doing even before ‘The Chosen.’ A year before ‘The Chosen,’ I found this charity called Unbound. And I saw the work that they were doing. And they were changing not just the children’s lives through sponsorship, but entire families. So I’m doing as much as I can, and I weigh every opportunity that comes to me to speak on these things very carefully. And I also know that there’s only so much that I can give of myself. It’s a lot. And I mean that it’s a lot for me physically and emotionally. It can get really, really taxing at times. And so I’m trying to do things like just take better care of myself and try to go on more vacations. But it’s hard to find time these days. But, you know, sleep when you’re in the ground, right?” “I realize you just made a comment about trying to find relaxation as a peace of mind, but I have another question about the March for Life.” “Well, let’s see how this goes.” “There was one moment in the speech you gave there where you sort of pivot and say that you know about the world of entertainment. And I’m paraphrasing all of this. So if I’m misremembering, just correct me.” “I’ll help you. It’s super dark.” “Yes. And you’re sort of diagnosing the cultural landscape. And you say, there’s just an increase in occult imagery, depictions of witchcraft.” “Yeah.” “And you say some of this is even subliminal. And you know it when you see it. I don’t know exactly what you mean. Can you give me examples of the kind of stuff you’re talking about?” “I think we’ve reached a point now in culture where seeing depictions and images and symbolism of Satan and satanism and demons and witchcraft and the symbols of that’s related to all of the occult are so frequent and regular that it’s so easy to become desensitized. I think your mind just filters it like, Oh, I’ve seen that so many times now. It doesn’t even register. And if you go back a couple of decades ago, you would never see anything like that. I’ve seen it more, I think, in the music industry, demonic imagery in music videos, and immodesty, and all of these things that the youngest of our society are subjected to and shouldn’t be, I don’t believe. I think, for me, remembering that speech, my heart was for the kids that see certain things, like on music videos, and then they reenact them themselves, or they wear what they’re seeing because it’s what’s popular and fashionable. And they don’t have any idea that some of the imagery or the symbols or the words that are being used are, from a spiritual standpoint, really, really damaging and really dangerous on a level that we’ve never seen before.” “You know, it’s funny because I said, I don’t see it. And, of course, it’s like I enjoy the music of Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, you know what I mean?” “Oh, I’m a huge Iron Maiden fan.” “Iron Maiden.” “’Number of the Beast.’ I’m like, well —” - [INAUDIBLE] “— I can’t really wear that. I can’t wear that T-shirt so much anymore.” “But to me, that kind of imagery, it feels benign to me. Like it’s on the same level as science fiction movies or horror films. It’s like, this is entertainment. So my question for you is —” “Well, you’re also referencing, like, rock. And the imagery from those bands in that time are different than some of the more modern — I think it’s much more graphic and sexualized. Sexuality is so much more prevalent in the media with, especially in music. The display of sexuality and the dark images connected to sexuality are so much more blatant than they ever were 30, 40 years ago.” “But do you think that the kind of iconography you’re talking about is just sort of the natural outcome of a corroded culture, or do you think it’s the intentional result of darker forces?” “I mean, I think it could be a combination of a number of things. I think it could be how society at large has framed faith and religion, and banished it from visible culture, from areas in the culture where you used to see more people, I think, kind of framing their faith within the context of what they do, or even presidents and people would invoke, just in their speech would invoke God in the way that they don’t do that anymore.” “It doesn’t seem like there’s a shortage of politicians talking about [INAUDIBLE]” “But not without a negative connotation to it. Put it this way, I’ll speak for myself. I had a conversation several years ago about the discussion of faith in the workplace. They were a nonactor. It was a production member. And I know we shared a similar faith. And we hadn’t really talked about it. But there was a spark of a conversation that made me think, Oh, let me ask them about this. And they went on to say, to kind of carefully admonish me like, Hey, just be careful. You really shouldn’t talk about these kinds of things because a lot of people are biased against Christians in this industry. So you might want to just keep a lid on that. And I thought, But it’s just us talking, do you know what I mean? And I think what I recognized is that there was such a deep fear of being, quote-unquote, ‘found out’ that they had a sense of faith, that it was not OK to possess that. And for me, that’s not OK. It’s not OK to be told I can’t practice my faith or express it, especially if I’m not going around saying, Here’s the Bible. Do me a favor. Just read that. I’m not asking anybody to convert. I’m not. I’ve never once said, Do me a favor, you should convert. Like, I just live out my mission here, be who I am. And if people want to ask me questions or invite me to come talk to 200,000 people and share my thoughts about certain things, I’ll pray on it first. Like with the March, I didn’t even — the weeks leading right up to it, I didn’t want to do it. I thought, This can’t be good for an actor. But then I got to this moment that I had when I first completely surrendered everything to God before I booked ‘The Chosen.’ And it was the same, there was this same feeling of, You know what, I’m asking you to do this and not worry about it. And it was like this wave of peace just kind of swept over me. And they said, just speak from the heart.” “If you think about the work you’re doing in terms of mission, how much of that mission feels to you evangelical in nature? Like if somebody watches the show and is merely entertained and nothing more, do you feel that something has been left on the table?” “No, no, I think one of the reasons that we’re successful —— and it’s one of the priorities for both Dallas and myself and I think everybody involved — is that we recognize, first and foremost, this is a TV show. It’s based on scriptures, based on the Gospels, but there’s stuff that we’ve had to take creative license in certain situations to be able to tell a more well-rounded story. But if the vehicle of this story is anything less than top quality, if it’s not a great TV show first, then anything else that any of us might want to have people take away from the show from a personal perspective or a faith perspective, none of that’s going to matter. If you take a piece of gold and you wad it up in a ball of trash and you throw it on the sidewalk and say, You should pick that up, you’re like, No, get lost. Nobody’s going to want to even touch it. They’ll just walk by it. So it’s the same thing. Like if the message behind the show is a little piece of gold wrapped up in a wad of garbage, then forget it. You’re done. Yeah, it still has to be a great TV show first. And then everything else from that can flow.” “You know, actors who have been on successful TV shows, I think it’s not uncommon for them to have been typecast because of the familiarity that people had with the characters that they played. And that’s not even factoring into or taking into account playing Jesus. Do you have any concern about the industry typecasting you in that role, or are you getting any clues out there in the world about that?” “Yeah, no, I’m not. And I don’t want to feel like I’m beating a dead horse, but it’s really true, David. Like whatever happens, man, whatever is meant for me will be mine, do you know what I mean? And if I did nothing else for the rest of my life as an actor on camera but Jesus in ‘The Chosen,’ and that’s all people remembered me for, well, the fact that they remember me at all, that’s amazing. I’m good because the show is just a vehicle for this point of human contact and this encounter that we’re all meant to have with each other and with the divine beyond us.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “Jonathan, thank you very much for being so generous with your time and your conversation today. I appreciate it. And I’m looking forward to talking to you again on Thursday.” “Thank you. It’s been great.” “After the break, I called Jonathan Roumie back. And he tells me why he thinks ‘The Chosen’ should make Hollywood less wary of religion. Thank you for taking the time to do this again.” “Of course, it’s my pleasure.” “You’re in your hotel now?” “I am. Yeah.” “You’re getting a look at the Dave cave. What do you think?” “This is the Dave cave.” “Yeah, it’s got my records.” “Now is this your own curated home?” “Oh yeah.” “Or this is the work corner?” “Yeah, Yeah.” “Wow. What an honor. What an honor.” “Let me just ask a seasonally appropriate question. At this point in American culture, Christmas basically feels sort of like a secular holiday.” “Yeah.” “Do you have feelings about how secular Christmas has become?” “Yeah, it’s been almost 100 percent secularized in terms of media and culture. I think it’s hard. It’s hard to sort of see it being hijacked. But it’s been like that for — I remember as a kid seeing these signs around churches around Christmas time. It says ‘Keep Christ in Christmas.’ Especially now, any movie that comes out during the season that’s about Christmas, there’s no trace of Jesus in it at all. So it’s unfortunate. But that’s why guys like Dallas Jenkins are around to kind of give people the alternatives. Like, Oh yeah, this is what this is about, to remember like, yes, Christmas is supposed to be joyful. But at the end of the day, the reason for Christmas ultimately leads us to the cross. The birth of Christ is meant to ultimately lead us to the cross of Christ to bring the world hope and salvation and everything that comes with that.” “And you told this interesting anecdote about — it was a discussion with a crew member about how discussing faith at work was sort of a no-go. What might account for why faith is tricky for Hollywood?” “I don’t know why because I think when you look at the numbers with how ‘The Chosen’ has performed, and how other projects like ‘Jesus Revolution’ have done with audiences, and there’s an audience that’s there. But I think maybe because for so long there has been a rash of media and content and films made under the guise of being related to faith that have just missed the mark in terms of excellence, or they read as is so heavy-handed in their attempts to proselytize that essentially they’re made for the choir. And with ‘The Chosen,’ it’s like, well, we really see ourselves as a historical drama. And so 30 percent of our audience now is nonreligious. Like that’s a lot. And for a show that the early adopters were Christians, to get to the point now where globally it’s one of the most watched TV shows in the entire world, and 30 percent of that audience is nonreligious, I think that’s pretty significant. And so I don’t really know why Hollywood would be afraid of that. I think if you’re not telling these stories with the sense of truth and authenticity and respect that they deserve, then you end up with films that do miss the mark, or they alienate the core audience that they’re trying to reach. And I think that’s where we get it right.” “You talked a lot about the idea of surrendering to God and how once you decided to give up trying to control things, things then took off for you. And I think that for nonbelievers, the idea of surrender, and what that actually means in practice, can be a little hard to understand. It can just sound like a well-meaning cliche, I think, in the way that when you hear an athlete talk about, Oh you know, we’re just taking it one game at a time and giving it 110 percent. It’s not untrue, but it’s not really helping you to understand what’s going on. And I wonder if you can try to explain a little bit more concretely about what it actually looked like for you to surrender and sort of let go.” “I think that’s a great question. I think the simplest way to describe it is knowing or arriving at the position of where I recognize that my ability to control my destiny, my fate, my path, whatever you want to call it, ultimately, I believe, is beyond me. Yet I have to participate in the process of moving forward, of achievement, of trying to follow the direction that I believe I’m meant to go. When I came to the conclusion in that moment that we talked about, that moment of surrender, I came to the conclusion that for the previous eight years up to that point, I think that God had an idea or a plan for me. And then it’s like he said, OK, I’ve given you these gifts. I’ve given you these talents. Do something with them. And I’m kind of like, Oh, OK, let me go do something with them, and sort of leaving him out of the discernment process when it came to certain steps to take to move forward. And so I did that for years and years and years. And I think as a person of faith, you necessarily cannot keep God separate from any part of your life, especially in areas where you’re struggling. And for me, it was in a moment of severe stress and anxiety and borderline fiscal destitution that I basically said I can’t do it on my own. I recognize I’ve been trying to do everything that I thought I was supposed to do. But it hasn’t worked. And what I realize is is that I’ve never checked in and thought whether or not this particular action was the right move, or that was what God might want for my life. So now it was essentially a prayer where I say, I want whatever you want for me because you know better than I do what’s good for me. So whatever that is, show me what it is.” “You’re so firmly on your path now, but are there ways in which your faith is still being tested?” “Constantly. God willing, I’m on the path. But that’s part of the mystery of faith. God ultimately is unknowable.” “But give me the nitty-gritty. Where are you being tested?” “You know, they asked Saint Paul about that, and he never really quite answered directly. He had a prayer. He was like, Lord, take this thorn from my side. Three times, he said, I asked the Lord to take this thorn from my side, and that God said, No, I’m not going to take that from you because my grace is sufficient. In other words, he needed Paul to have this thing, this weakness, whatever it was so that Paul would always depend on God for everything that he got. And I feel similarly with my own sort of things. I’m not comparing myself to Paul in any aspect whatsoever. But we all deal with something, right? We’re all suffering and struggling with something. I’m a woefully flawed human being but I’m trying to do the best that I can with the gifts that I’ve been given. And by me even just walking the walk of faith publicly, it’s not something that I ever intended to do. It’s something that, during the pandemic, I literally felt pushed to do. And I started doing it. I started praying live on my social media accounts. And I thought, What am I doing? This is career killer because it was like — it would, first of all, out me as a Christian, and then, in many cases, even more stringently out me as a Catholic Christian, which people find even harder to take.” “You know there’s like a billion Catholics in the world.” “There are. But I don’t know that they’re all here in America. And most of my audience —” “The current president, Catholic.” “You know, but it just wasn’t something I’d ever thought to do or wanted to do or felt that I should do. I’d always kept it separate. And then I just felt this thought, this inclination like you should do this because people are struggling really bad right now. And it’s going to bring peace to a lot of people. So I’m just trying to go where I’m led, man.” “Jonathan, thank you, and happy holidays.” “Thank you. Likewise, David. God bless.” [MUSIC PLAYING]

The star of “The Chosen” discusses his early struggles in Hollywood, fans who conflate him with his character and how his own faith informs his work.

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That slickly modern style, which allows the show to appeal to a curious nonbeliever like me, is centered on Roumie’s warm and relatable portrayal, and it has helped the show become a gigantic success. To date, “The Chosen,” which is available for streaming on Amazon, Hulu and other platforms and will return for its fifth season next year, has been watched by more than 250 million people. All that positive attention has nudged Roumie, a Catholic, toward being a kind of faith leader. At public events for “The Chosen,” he can be swamped by fans looking to, as it were, touch the hem of his garment; he gets asked to deliver high-profile speeches at faith-based events attended by thousands; and in the online world, he has a partnership with the prayer app Hallow, where subscribers can hear him read scripture and lead meditative reflections. It’s safe to say these opportunities were not on his radar before playing the son of God.

sizzling hot

Roumie, who is 50 and was struggling in his career before landing “The Chosen,” is well aware that he’s in an emotionally and psychologically complicated situation for an actor. But it’s also a situation that — he believes, anyway — is all part of a greater plan.

What conversations did you and Dallas [Jenkins] have initially about the kind of Jesus that you wanted to show? Because your Jesus is very different from Jim Caviezel’s in “The Passion of the Christ” or Willem Dafoe’s in “The Last Temptation of Christ.” It’s more contemporary-feeling, more colloquial. What we have, that all those other portrayals didn’t have access to, was long-form storytelling. You’re seeing the nuances of his character, his quirks. Nobody ever wondered, well, what would it be like to crack a joke with Jesus, to have a glass of wine with Jesus, to see him dancing at a wedding? Because if you’re human, laughing and joking and frustration and the entire spectrum of emotions are part of the human journey, part of the struggle. He went through all of these things that we do, so that we would have somebody to relate to as we’re going through these trials ourselves.

The polls of these three states, taken from Sept. 17 to 21, presented further evidence that in a sharply divided nation, the presidential contest is shaping up to be one of the tightest in history.

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