Jonathan Roumie on Portraying Christ in The Chosen, Shares Biggest Prayer for America

Actor Jonathan Roumie, who portrays Jesus Christ in The Chosen, shared how the role made him “want to be more like [Christ]” each and every day.

“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,” Roumie told CBN News during a red-carpet interview at the KLOVE Fan Awards in Nashville, Tennessee, Sunday.

“Even if you’re already a believer like I was going into these projects, it just deepens, exponentially, your wish to kind of know Him on a much more spiritually fundamental level, emotionally fundamental level, physically fundamental level.”

At the same time, however, playing Jesus’ role brought some challenges, such as fame, especially in how people process him.

“The way people receive the role and how they receive you when they meet you, it kind of feels like the line’s blurred,” Roumie said. “It’s part of what I explore in my documentary, Jonathan & Jesus, kind of…what that means and what it looks like in real-time.”

He also shared the challenge of “trying to live up to the expectations of God” as he portrays Christ on screen, Faithwire reports.

Roumie told CBN News that his biggest prayer for America is for people to turn to the Lord.

“The only thing you need is Jesus,” he said. “Jesus is the prince of peace. The only way to true inner peace is Jesus.”

At this year’s KLOVE Fan Awards, season four of The Chosen was nominated in the Film Impact category. The show will air on TBN and TBN+ on Friday, May 31, at 8 and 10 p.m. ET.

The Chosen has seen massive success since first premiering in 2017 and is currently filming its fifth season.

Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.