THE CHOSEN’s Jonathan Roumie and Dallas Jenkins Talk Faith and Hardship
By Movieguide® Contributor
THE CHOSEN star Jonathan Roumie and the show’s creator, Dallas Jenkins, are both open about the role God plays in their lives, especially at their lowest moments.
When Roumie began his acting career in 2009, he struggled to make ends meet.
“The first year I basically blasted through my savings, and it was a lot more difficult than I had anticipated,” he explained. Roumie continued to struggle, working as many as seven jobs at a time.
“All of a sudden, for this one span of time, I couldn’t even get a catering job, and I had bills come in and I had rent,” he said. “And I got to the point on a Saturday morning in May in 2018 where I was out of money. I woke up 80 bucks overdraft, I had 20 bucks in my pocket and I had all my bills coming, and I had enough food to last me the day. So, I didn’t know what I was going to do.”
It was then that he decided to pour his heart out to God.
“I’d always had a relationship with my faith, but I had never surrendered my career so viscerally or felt that I had no other choice before,” the actor explained. “So, I think God kind of knew that and said, ‘I need everything from you.’”
He continued, “And in order to do that, I need to bring you to the edge of the cliff and give it all to Him. And I did that day. That morning. And I said, ‘It’s no longer my problem. It’s your problem, God. So, you’re going to see me through this? Your yoke is easy. Your burden is light. I’m giving you mine. And whatever happens, happens.'”
Even though he didn’t have any answers to his problems, Roumie said he felt as if a burden had been lifted from his shoulders.
When he got home that day, he found checks in the mail that “mystify” him to this day.
“All I can say is that God provided me a financial miracle when I needed it, when I completely gave myself over to his care,” he said.
Three months later, Jenkins called Roumie and asked if he would be interested in working with him on a new series, and Roumie said, “Yes, please.”
Jenkins was also working through a tough time in his career. His most recent movie had flopped at the box office, and the director was unsure if he wanted to jump into another project.
The pair got to work on the first season of THE CHOSEN, which quickly became a global phenomenon. However, that huge level was success was no longer important to Roumie and Jenkins.
“I used to be someone who cared deeply about box office results, about the numbers, about the viewers,” Jenkins said. “I was trying to be affirmed not only by Hollywood but by viewers. It was very important to me. God took all of that away from me when I had my career failure back in 2017 when my movie bombed.”
He continued, “And so, I genuinely have not focused on the results or the numbers. When I’m sitting in front of a blank computer screen writing, that blank computer screen doesn’t give a crap about how successful the previous season was or how many people are watching. You still have to come up with compelling content that honors the character of Jesus in the Gospels.”
Season 3 of THE CHOSEN is now available to stream on THE CHOSEN app, the Angel app, the show’s website, Fox Nation, VidAngel, Netflix, Peacock and Amazon Prime Video.
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