‘The Chosen’ actor who discovered his faith on set gives an update

Nick Shakoour, the actor who plays Zebedee in “The Chosen,” gave an update on his growing relationship with God in a recent interview.

“I feel him all around 24 hours a day,” Shakoour told Movieguide. “And I’m really understanding now what it means to have a relationship with him, compared to just praying off into the ether distance without really feeling him around. It’s so easy now ... I’m not acting the scene, like he’s acting me.”

Since making “The Chosen,” a hit series about the life of Jesus, Shakoour said he’s seen God’s influence with the project.

“God is mainstream. God is everywhere. So he’s mainstreaming all over the place,” Shakoour told Movieguide. “So it’s been unbelievable how one film that Dallas wrote and shot and directed as the birth of Christ was taken and multiplied into what it’s become now. It’s awesome.”

In a previous interview with the Deseret News on the set of “The Chosen” in Midlothian, Texas, Shakoour opened up about his encounter with God. When he first took the role of Zebedee, he wasn’t sure if he believed in God.

Then, when filming Season 1, Episode 4, Shakoour ran around during a scene. “Back then, I described it as this energy swooped in from outside, propped me up and literally pushed me forward. This energy took over that I couldn’t even explain. Of course now, in hindsight, it was the Holy Spirit,” he said.

Shakoour later attended a church conference with his friend Seth. At this conference, he said he experienced God and knew Jesus in that moment. He later learned that a member of the construction crew for “The Chosen” had prayed at an earlier date that an actor would convert to Christianity.

When does Season 4 of ‘The Chosen’ come out?

The next season of “The Chosen” premieres in theaters on Feb. 1. See this article for more information about the release dates.