Jonathan Roumie says that filming Jesus on the cross changed his faith journey

Actor Jonathan Roumie opened up about the grueling process of filming the crucifixion for Season 6 of “The Chosen,” at this year’s ChosenCon, revealing that walking in the footsteps of Jesus in his final hours left a lasting mark on his life and faith.

“It’s been exciting,” Roumie told Fox News Digital at a fan event in Charlotte, North Carolina this month. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life – professionally and personally as a person.”

Roumie, who plays Jesus in the hit faith drama, showed the events of Palm Sunday and Holy Week in Season 5, which aired last year. The highly anticipated Season 6, which will be released in the fall, focuses on the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Christ as revealed in the Gospels.

For Roumie, a devout Catholic, revealing these moments was physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausting.

In order to prepare himself for this role, he said he is asking God to let him get a glimpse of what Jesus went through on the cross to bring the pages of the Bible to life.

“I spent a lot of time asking the Lord to show me what he wanted people to see and what he wanted them to see and if possible try to hear a small part of what he went through,” said Roumie. “I was willing to give myself that way, and it gave me a really challenging experience on set, physically and emotionally.”

On the first day of filming, Roumie badly injured her shoulder after a fall.

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Jesus and his disciples walk at night in the scene from Season 5 “The Chosen Ones.” (Courtesy of 5&2 Studios)

“Oh, the shoulder on which I will be carrying the cross. Okay, you got my message,” Roumie laughed as she chatted with Fr. Mike Schmitz at ChosenCon.

Another incident resulted in a head injury that left “cervical problems” for months afterward, he said.

Roumie explained how she gave this pain to God and prayed that it would affect others and be used for God’s glory.

“I can do less … and give all the pain and suffering,” Roumie told Schmitz. “What we do is bring it to the altar of sacrifice and say, ‘Lord, if you can use this for the sake of souls … I give this pain and suffering … My goal in all that was to give that for the benefit of souls and suffering people and by what happens, it can be sanctified and used for the glory of God.”

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Director Dallas Jenkins and actor Jonathan Roumie on the set of “The Chosen.” (5&2 Studios)

The strength of the brand extended beyond Roumie himself. He described the entire cast as “trauma-bound” due to the emotional weight of the crucifixion scenes, noting that the experience felt like “PTSD.”

“It still affects me in a way I didn’t expect,” he admitted.

Roumie, who is currently collaborating with actors Mark Wahlberg and Chris Pratt on the challenge of the Hallow’s prayer app, Lent, told Fox News Digital that this Easter feels different than any before it after filming Passion.

“I think there is much more to the experience of Christ in my consciousness than what I bring to the age now,” he thought. “Maybe it will be an intense Holy Week for me … the first Holy Week I will have since I renewed the Passion. That was a deep experience for me, which I am still processing … everything I experience and go through, I give it to the Lord.”

‘The Chosen Star’ tells the story of two potential royals who convert to Christianity after watching a screening.

Jonathan Roumie portrays Jesus in the TV series “The Chosen.” (5&2 Studios)

Despite the darkness of the scenes he recorded, Roumie’s main goal is to point viewers to the character of God.

He told Fox News Digital that he wants people to come away from his portrayal knowing that Jesus doesn’t care about their lives but loves them deeply and wants a relationship with them.

“He is accessible to people, that everything he went through, he went through in the name of all mankind, and that in the end it is love and forgiveness and mercy and compassion,” said Roumie. “So I think that if people have this idea of ​​him as this, as this judge only or this, you know, God without love, it is completely wrong. It is the opposite. He is nothing but love and compassion, and it is worth knowing because your life will only be better by knowing him deeply.”

Roumie’s passion for the role is based on a personal “rock bottom” period that occurred a few months before his release. Before “The Chosen,” the actor was struggling to find work, dealing with a negative balance in his checking account and a chaotic life.

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Actor Jonathan Roumie attends the Netflix premiere of “The Chosen – Season 3” at Le Grand Rex on Oct. 6, 2023, Paris, France. (Marc Piasecki/WireImage)

Things turned around when he surrendered his struggles to God.

“I got down on my knees, and I prayed,” Roumie told Fox News Digital in 2024. “I said, ‘Look, God, I’m giving you everything. If you want this to work, you’re going to have to help me find a way to live, to get food for tomorrow. And I’ll never have to worry about it again.’

He describes this as the moment he finally gave up trying to control his destiny.

“The point was that I made a commitment that I could no longer control it,” he explained. “And when I did that, I think that’s what changed me. My life, since then, has never been the same.”

About three months after this act of devotion to God, Roumie was cast as Jesus Christ in a role that reached at least 250 million viewers worldwide.

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Fox News’ Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi and Christine Rousselle contributed to this report.

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