Playing God with Jonathan Roumie

Fail Better with David Duchovny

Grace Cohen-Chen

Society & Culture

4.6 • 534 Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jonathan Roumie is a genuinely charismatic individual, which is understandable given his acclaimed portrayal of Jesus in the immensely popular Christian historical drama The Chosen. However, long before embodying arguably the most significant main character in history, Jonathan was, to borrow the familiar lyric, “just a slob like one of us.” He spent time drumming in bands, working as a location scout, and taking on voice-acting roles, navigating the balance between his divine creative calling and the practical necessity of paying the bills. We discuss the moment that he gave up and turned to God for the answers, sending him down a path where he’s become more than just Christ-like — he’s often confused for the real thing. Follow me on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's morning in New York.
0:02.8	Oh, God.
0:06.2	Hey, everybody.
0:07.3	I'm Mandy Patinkin.
0:08.7	And I'm Catherine Grady.
0:09.8	And we have a new podcast.
0:11.7	It's called Don't Listen to Us.
0:14.1	Many of you've asked for our advice.
0:16.1	Tell me, what is wrong with you people?
0:19.2	Don't listen to us.
0:20.3	Our Take It or Leave a Device show every Wednesday out now.
0:24.7	A Lemonada Media Original.
0:35.9	I'm David Ducfney and this is Fail Better, a show where failure, not success, shapes who we are.
0:43.7	Jonathan Rumi is an actor, producer, and storyteller, and if you know him, it's probably from his portrayal of Jesus Christ in the hit TV series The Chosen.
0:53.5	I say if you know him, because this series has been
0:56.7	massively successful worldwide, though not because of a major streamer and the reach of its
1:01.6	marketing. The Chosen was crowdfunded, eventually to the tune of $100 million in donations,
1:08.2	and it's reportedly been viewed by almost 300 million people worldwide.
1:13.3	Yet, you may have never heard of it.
1:16.0	As a fairly secular person myself, I found out about the show four seasons in, through an article in the New York Times.
1:24.3	I became really curious about Jonathan, who has been steeped in the ideas of faith, miracles,
1:28.9	and a higher power throughout the production and promotion of the show. And it turns out that his
	...

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