CELEBRITIES
Jonathan Roumie from ‘The Chosen’ explains how he came to play the role of Jesus
The actor who plays Jesus in ‘The Chosen’ revealed his salvation story.
Jonathan Roumie is talking about how his life changed five years ago after encountering God.
Roumie plays Jesus in the popular crowdfunded television series ‘The Chosen’ and Lonnie Frisbee in the blockbuster hit ‘Jesus Revolution’, a film that follows the wave of people turning to Christianity in the midst of the ‘60s sexual revolution.
Jonathan Roumie’s salvation story
Roumie appeared on Fox News Tonight with Kayleigh McEnany, where the actor told McEnany that it was the fifth anniversary since his life changed.
“Today is a special day,” Roumie said. “Because five years ago today, I was literally in a pit and God sort of lent a hand and brought me out of the pit. I was broke. I was in debt. I had enough food for the day to last a day.
“And I literally, as a result of having been struggling for the previous, oh, 15 to 17 years prior trying to make it as an actor, I literally surrendered my entire life, my career, everything that I had and didn’t have over to God,” the actor confided. “And that day, He blessed me with a bit of a massive financial miracle that changed my relationship with Him completely and forever.”
Tastes of playing Jesus
Roumie elaborated that three months later he was offered the opportunity to play Jesus on ‘The Chosen’, adding that the honor of playing the role is “surreal” and “humbling”.
“Everything’s been different since, so today’s five years to the day that actually happened,” ‘The Chosen’ star said. “When I look back at all of the moments in my life that God sort of gave me these little tastes of playing this character, I realized that from the time I was a kid, from the time I was about 11 years old, this, I think, was sort of ordained for me.”
After mentioning that he watched the 1977 ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ miniseries at age 11, he was “moved” by the crucifixion scene to build his own crucifix.
“As an 11-year-old, I, after watching this, the crucifixion, I basically built my own crucifix, processed around my backyard, doing my own sort of way of the cross, and upright through the hammer, the nails in the hands and the feet and painted the blood and reenacted the crucifixion as a kid, Roumie recalled. “So I guess it was — God saw something before I ever did.”