Published 2 days ago

The Chosen star Jonathan Roumie on feeling defeated when he got deeply in debt in 2017: “And I had enough food to last the day, and I knew that I didn’t know how I was going to get food the next day. My credit cards were frozen, and so I didn’t know what I was going to do.”
PHOTO/S: Rachelle Siazon

Months away from the Season 5 premiere of The Chosen, its lead star Jonathan Roumie visited the Philippines, which ranks third among countries with the highest viewers of the groundbreaking historical drama that depicts who Jesus is through a reimagined lens of his chosen apostles.

Held at the Pavilion in Shangri-La BGC on Friday, November 22, 2024, PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) and a select group of entertainment editors interviewed Jonathan about how The Chosen pointed him toward his purpose in life.

While it was not his first run playing Jesus, the 50-year-old American actor related that the project came at an opportune time when he just experienced a personal encounter that deepened his faith in God.

At the time, he already had a decade of experience hustling as a talent scout and voice actor in New York, then another eight years as an aspiring Hollywood actor in Los Angeles, but still without a major breakthrough.

It reached a point when he got so frustrated because he didn’t earn as much as he thought he should have despite the many odd jobs that he had taken on to make ends meet.

Recalling a difficult phase in his life in 2017, Jonathan told PEP: “Yeah, I was struggling for many years in Los Angeles.

“I moved there from New York and spent eight years trying to make acting my full-time living, and it wasn’t going so well.

“I had had periodic engagements on different TV shows and successes and voiceover, but I never quite hit anything that led to either multiple episodes on a television show or a film that led to something else.

“And so I was working, doing these different side jobs, and none of them were really enough to kind of pay the bills.”

As if things couldn’t get any worse, Jonathan said he even found himself going through a financial crisis

Elaborating: “And then all of a sudden, I went from having about seven, six or seven different side jobs all at once that I was balancing, juggling, to having no work in any of them, which for me was surreal, and it just felt off.

“It felt like something, like, it just didn’t seem normal. Like I was working for three different catering companies. I was painting houses. I was driving a rideshare. I was tutoring people.

“I was doing all these other things, and all of a sudden everything stopped. And I wondered what was going on.

“And I got to the point where I literally woke up one morning, and I was negative in my balance in my checking account, and I was deeply in debt.

“And I had enough food to last the day, and I knew that I didn’t know how I was going to get food the next day.

“My credit cards were frozen, and so I didn’t know what I was going to do.”

With nothing else to lose, Jonathan turned to God and prayed for a much-needed breakthrough.

“I did the only thing that I could do that I had left to do, which was to just leave it all in God’s hands because I had no other choice.

“And I knew if I was going to be practicing the faith that I professed to believe, that I had to rely on God, and I couldn’t.

“I could no longer rely on myself and my concept of what it meant to be in control of my career and to be the one, kind of calling the shots, and God gave me no choice but to surrender, so I did.”

He described it as an act of humility and trust rather than making things work on his own.

“On that very day, I received a windfall in the form of four different paychecks from these disparate sources from jobs I had done over the years that pay what they call residual payments.

“There was one company that hadn’t paid me in years. They’re like, ‘Oh, we forgot to pay this.’

“They’re like, ‘Oh, we forgot to pay this money in years,’ $800, and at the end of that I had $1,100, when the morning I woke up with negative $80.

“And so, I recorded opening the checks for posterity and to really memorialize this miracle.

“Because for me it was a financial miracle and a spiritual miracle and proof that the minute I gave my life and my career to God, that’s when he opened the floodgates for me.”

Jonathan Roumie at the Manila press junket

LETTING GOD TAKE CARE OF everything

In hindsight, he said that it felt like God was preparing his heart for an unexpected breakthrough.

“And three months later, I booked The Chosen.

“And from that moment on I’ve never worried about how I would feed myself again.

“Even when, you know, in that time, even six months after booking The Chosen, I still, you know, nothing was guaranteed.”

The Chosen started out as a crowd-funded project, with its creator/executive producer/director/writer Dallas Jenkins asking for support from the viewers who liked the first few episodes of the series that were launched sporadically.

“We didn’t have, you know, seven seasons guaranteed.

“But I didn’t worry. I didn’t have the same anxiety that I used to have because I knew God would take care of me, and He has.”

The pilot episode premiered in December 2017. Then the first season was initially made available for purchase in 2019 before it was finally shown via The Chosen app for free in 2020.

Since then, Jonathan grew active in sharing his faith as a “born-again Roman Catholic,” who not only leads rosaries, novenas, and readings of daily scriptures but also openly talks about his faith journey.

When PEP asked if he still grapples with the whys in his life after growing so much in faith, he answered, “Faith is a journey. Belief is a journey. God is a relationship that all people need.

“I may never receive the answer to any of my whys, but I don’t need the answer. The why doesn’t matter.

“What matters is knowing that I may not understand the plan God has for my life, but He does, and I have to trust in the ‘what.’

“So if I trust in the ‘what,’ the ‘why’ doesn’t matter.

“As long as I continue to trust in the what or the who, even more specifically the who, I’m covered.”

When asked if he ever felt worried that playing Jesus might be a “career-killer” as it could limit him to certain kinds of roles, Jonathan gave an instant “no” as an answer.

“For me, it was a career giver,” he underlined.

“When you accept the fact that you’re putting God in charge of any aspect of your life, whether it’s your career, whether it’s your personal life, your love life, whether it’s your marriage, whether it’s your children, whether it’s your financial problems or debts or burdens or family members or any kind of trial or struggle, when you realize you’re putting any of that in God’s hands, you’re only increasing your chances of getting through any of these perceived obstacles.

“Because that’s all they are. They’re perceptions of trouble. They’re perceptions of an obstacle. They’re not real.

“Because when you’re devoted to God and you’re completely trusting in Him, He will get you through anything.

“There are no obstacles. There are our perceptions of obstacles.

“And so the minute we give Him control and we stop trying to do things ourselves, that’s when it’s all taken care of.

“It might not look like it, but we know we’re being led around the obstacle course.

“So, I have no qualms or any belief that there is any kind of stereotype or prevention of some sort of a wide-ranging career because I’m playing Jesus.”

Jonathan also shared that he got more opportunities after The Chosen became a huge hit.

“Because I’m playing Jesus, because I’ve committed to it, God has given me a career that is now starting to reach outside of it.

“It’s all in His time.”

Jonathan related that he’d be starring in a romantic-comedy called Solo Mio, where he gets jilted by his fiancée, prompting him to go solo on their supposed honeymoon trip to Italy, where he meets a potential new love interest.

“In fact, I just shot a romantic-comedy with the comedic star in the United States, [directed by] Kevin James.

“It’s called Solo Mio and has nothing to do with Bible stories or anything like that.

“It’s going to be a great, wholesome, family-friendly journey where I’m just playing this kind of wacky character.”

While it was far from what he became known for in The Chosen, he believed that the circumstances that led him to the movie project was still a divine providence.

Jonathan explained: “And so that came from my relationship with Kevin, which came out of doing a retreat with him through Lent.

“We prayed together, and that’s how our relationship started.

“So God brought us together and then brought me this movie that had nothing to do with faith stories.

“But it’s there. And I got to play a character that I can be a faithful person in the character.

“I might not have speeches or sermons in the movie, but that’s okay.

“So, I’m getting more opportunities to do things than ever before.”

Jonathan Roumie at the premiere night of The Chosen: Holy Night at SM Megamall

ABOUT JONATHAN ROUMIE

Born in Hell’s Kitchen in New York City, Jonathan is of Syro-Lebanese and Irish descent.

His father was born in Egypt, while his mother is from Ireland.

Jonathan was first baptized Greek Orthodox, but later converted to Roman Catholic when his family moved from Queens to Long Island.

He first played Jesus in Faustina: Messenger of Divine Mercy in 2013.

Then he auditioned for a role as a thief in Dallas’s short film The Two Thieves, but he ended up playing Jesus with minimal speaking lines.

When he finally landed the lead role in The Chosen, he pointed out how he felt discouraged at first because his character hardly showed up in the first few episodes.

The series got a lot of traction, however, as the ensemble cast portrayed characters who have their own share of personal struggles that viewers can easily identify with.

It also goes without saying that Jonathan effectively delivered his character in a way that, according to fans, prompts them to want to get to know the real Jesus more and have a personal relationship with Him.

Jonathan, for his part, would always say as an ice-breaker whenever he gives talks that he’s not Jesus but just an actor playing the part in The Chosen.

As a parting shot during his interview here in Manila, he shared the key to delivering an impactful portrayal of Jesus.

“Well, I just leave it to God to do the heavy lifting.

“I can only bring my humanity to the role because I’m not divine in any aspect whatsoever.”

Jonathan added, “So, I think I offer everything that I do up to God, especially this role, and I ask him to guide me throughout every scene.

“I pray before every scene, and I ask for wisdom and discernment and guidance on every scene and every episode and every line, and he does the rest.

“So that’s how I handle that.”

Jonathan Roumie takes selfie with Pinoy fans

A CHRISTMAS MOVIE

After his press interviews yesterday, Jonathan attended the teal-carpet premiere of the remastered version of Christmas with The Chosen: Holy Night at SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.

The movie centers on the birth of Jesus, as seen through the eyes of Mary and Joseph, who, according to Bible stories and historical accounts, secretly flew to Egypt to escape King Herod who sought the life of the infant Jesus.

The Chosen: Holy Night will start showing in SM theaters on December 11.