Jesus Christ stereotyping a career-giver, not a career-killer – Jonathan Roumie

MANILA, Philippines — Being cast as Jesus Christ reportedly has its pros and cons — and among the cons might be being stereotyped as such, just like Daniel Radcliffe is forever Harry Potter to many, and Christopher Reeve is the first face to flash when one says “Superman.”

In a 2011 The Guardian interview, Jim Caviezel claims "The Passion of the Christ" made him a Hollywood outcast. The actor who played Jesus Christ in Mel Gibson's 2004 film said he was shunned by the film industry since taking the role.

“No, for me, it’s a career-giver,” Jonathan Roumie quickly retorted when Philstar.com asked the Jesus actor in “The Chosen” on his reaction that being stereotyped as Jesus was rumored to be a “career-killer” in secular Hollywood.

“I have no qualms or any belief that there is any kind of stereotype or prevention of some sort of a wide-raging career because of that ‘Jesus effect.’ In fact, it’s the opposite. Because I’m playing Jesus, because I’m committed to it, God has given me a career that is now starting to reach outside of it. It’s all in His time,” he added in a roundtable interview in Shangri-La The Fort last week.

“When you accept the fact that putting God in-charge, in any aspect of your life, whether it’s career, your personal life, your love life, whether it’s with marriage, whether your children, whether it’s your financial problems or debts or burdens or family members or any kind of trial, struggle, and when you realize that you’re putting any of that in God’s hands, you’re only increasing your chances of getting through many of these perceived obstacles. Because that’s all they are, perceptions of struggles, perceptions of an obstacle. They are not real,” he said.

“Because when you’re devoted to God and you completely trust in Him, He will get you through anything. There are no obstacles! It’s just perception of obstacles. And so the minute we give Him control, we stop trying to think of ourselves. That one is being taken cared of. You might not like it, but you are being led around the obstacle course.”

According to him, before he was booked in “The Chosen,” he was tapped for “nearly as meaningful” roles that were not Jesus.

“But as I’ve said