Jonathan Roumie
speaker
264 appearances
2 recordings
2 series
first heard Dec 2024
last heard Mar 2025
Jonathan Roumie’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
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 ourself.
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... Okay, I get that.
Struggle bussing.
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 LA 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, it was just, 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 gonna 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, okay, I just needed to submit.
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 before.
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.
But they would have to, 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 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, really cool guy, you know, shared a lot.
He becomes a sandaled hippie in a lot of, you know, 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.
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!
You know, 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, of course, 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 don't matter. Dust in the wind.
I think if I said there wasn't anything at all, I'd be lying. Yeah. 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 that's what this experience is in playing this role when i meet fans who come out and and i was just in the philippines and it was nuts man like i've never seen anything like it um 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.
Showing 181–200 of 264 · page 10 of 14
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