Jesus is real and so is the actor playing him on TV. Juan Pablo Di Pace plays the role of Jesus in the series A.D.: The Bible Continues, airing Sunday nights on NBC.
It’s the next installment of a mini-series that began on Easter Sunday. The Bible, once a popular subject in TV and film with classics like The Ten Commandments has made a contemporary comeback, in part because of the popularity of recent Biblical epics on cable.
Di Pace says playing the role has definitely had an impact.
“It really was a transformative experience. I never walked into this profession thinking I would play this part. I never felt good enough or worthy enough because I consider myself like the black sheep of my family,” says the Argentinian actor. “There are the ones who are move devout than I am. To be given this role and to research it and everything, it was the most incredible, humbling experience. To see what he went through and be in his shoes was amazing.”
Di Pace, who plays billionaire Nicholas Trevino on the TNT reboot of Dallas, says that he did learn some new things about Jesus in preparing for and playing the role of the man who came from humble beginnings to become someone worshiped the world over after dying for the sins of humankind.
“I realize how lonely he was,” says Di Pace. “Whenever we think of Jesus, we think of someone surrounded by love and surrounded by apostles and people. But especially when we get around to the Crucifixion, we realize he’s on a mission and its a lonely mission.”
On Dallas, Di Pace plays a more conniving character, said that playing Jesus was actually a refreshing departure from his usual roles.
“It’s such a blessing to be able to go from that character [on Dallas] to Jesus. I think we all have that capacity to go from be absolute nasty people to goodness. If someone touches our child we’re able to murder them, but we all have the purity of Christ if we really look into it. Acting is about channelling whichever energy that your’e given and in this case, it was so massive, it did something to me.”
Love 106.7 WTLC? Get more! Join the 106.7 WTLC Newsletter
Thank you for subscribing! Please be sure to open and click your first newsletter so we can confirm your subscription.
