‘My fulfillment is in serving the Lord’: Jonathan Roumie testifies to faith ahead of ‘The Chosen’ Season 6 release

Seven years ago, few people outside Jonathan Roumie’s circle of family and friends knew his name. Like many actors trying to make a living in Hollywood, he was looking for a role that could open the door to bigger parts and better pay.

Today, though, Roumie is one of the most recognizable faces in faith and family entertainment, thanks to his portrayal of Jesus in The Chosen – a series that has been watched by 390 million people in some 170 countries, making it the most popular faith-based project in modern entertainment.

But as Season 6 of The Chosen prepares to launch on Prime Video Nov. 15, Roumie is content with where God has placed him. Sure, he’d enjoy landing in, say, a Hollywood blockbuster. Mostly, though, he says he wants to further advance God’s kingdom.

“My face may fade from people’s minds over the years, and that’s great,” he told CCM Magazine recently during a lengthy interview. “But hopefully, as my face fades, their hearts grow more deeply in love with Jesus.”

Roumie was a little-known actor in his 40s when he landed the role of Jesus. Until then, much of his work had been in video game voice-overs and small television roles, including a part in a 2015 episode of NCIS: Los Angeles.

He had come to believe that a Hollywood breakout might never come.

“I had accepted the fact that that probably wasn’t going to be – the Hollywood kind of ideal was not in the cards for me – and it still isn’t,” he said.

“And I think God very intentionally made it clear to me that that was not going to be my path.”

Through The Chosen, Roumie has gotten to know some of the show’s celebrity fans, including Chris Pratt, Mark Wahlberg and Gwen Stefani, who were household names long before his own breakout.

“As far as, you know, auditioning for a Marvel film or anything like that, that’s never happened, and I don’t know if it will happen. And I don’t care,” Roumie said. “It’d be fun, but since The Chosen, I no longer am sort of pinning any hopes on what I thought was a fulfilling career because that’s completely changed now.”

Roumie has long said that filming The Chosen renewed his faith and changed how he thinks about success and what he wants to do next.

“My fulfillment is in serving the Lord and using the gifts and talents that He gave me, and He clearly had this role designed for me from a very early age.”

He added that “seeing the impact that this role has had” on the world – and the “power” media can have on the larger culture – has “implanted within me this seed that has germinated and taken root” of wanting to create projects beyond The Chosen.

“I’m actively developing those stories myself, and I’ve got teams and I’ve got two different TV series that are completely different, [that are] not violating the sensibility of what people have come to see me play, the kinds of characters people have come to see me play.”

The future projects, he said, are “an opportunity to minister to somebody in a way that’s very different from The Chosen.”

He smiled as he pointed out one difference from The Chosen: Neither series will be set in the first century.

“Wearing shoes would be great.”

(Image credit: 5&2 Studios)