Forestdale actor and 'The Chosen' star leads in new movie 'Forty-Seven Days with Jesus'

After departing from “The Chosen,” Forestdale native Yoshi Barrigas returns to the screen as Joseph in “Forty-Seven Days with Jesus,” coming to local theaters in March.

Directed by David Gutel and Emilio Palame, “Forty-Seven Days with Jesus” focuses on Joseph, a husband and dad who must decide when family comes before finances and the true meaning of the story of Easter.

“They pitched it to me as the story about a man who's struggling with his work-life and family-life balance, which I believe is going to be something very relatable to a lot of people, this sort of question of ‘If you have an opportunity to do something career-wise, that will, in the long run, support your family financially, but it requires you to sacrifice precious time with them now, is it worth it?” he said. “It's kind of like a man who is walking in fear rediscovering how to walk in faith.”

'The Chosen' actor Yoshi Barrigas stars in new movie 'Forty-Seven Days with Jesus'

But, the film does have a unique twist. According to Barrigas, as Joseph navigates his dilemma, his plight overlaps with the plot of Jesus' final 47 days on earth — thanks to his father — resulting in what he describes as a family movie with a "Magic School Bus thing going on."

“It's a random movie,” he said. “It’s unlike anything I've seen before. My father in the movie is telling the story of Jesus, his last 47 days on Earth. Every time he starts telling the story, we get to see the Bible come to life in this sort of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ way with lots of music and choreographed dancing. It's very fun and uplifting.”

Before starring as Joseph, Barrigas became a well-known name as Philip the Apostle in “The Chosen,” a renowned TV show about Jesus. That role came after getting his start in acting doing guest appearances on TV shows such as “The Big Bang Theory” and “Criminal Minds” after graduating from Cape Cod Community College in 2010. 

“When I graduated from 4 Cs, I on a whim kind of got in my car and drove to California,” he said. “I didn't really know how I was going to do it, but just kind of went for it and started doing auditions.”

How Justin Bieber helped Yoshi Barrigas stick with acting

Life as an actor didn’t come easy to him. After landing his first gig in a short film, Barrigas found himself out of work for a few years before finding representation and being able to audition for TV. Though he landed a few guest roles, he said, he was growing tired of waiting for his big break and wondering if it was time to give up.

Needing a moment of clarity, he took a hike on the “Wisdom Tree” trail, a popular hiking spot in Los Angeles. On his hike, he ran into an angel of sorts ― not one with white wings and a halo but with a group of girls crowding around him: Justin Bieber.

“I was sitting there, minding my own business and reading this book, and all of a sudden, I hear some commotion in the distance. A bunch of female voices getting excited,” he said. “I looked over and saw that they were surrounding someone, but I couldn't tell who it was. Some minutes later, that person approached me and was like, ‘Hey, man, what are you reading?’ and I looked up, and it was (Bieber.)”

The pair chatted about where they were at in their lives and as the conversation went on, Bieber told Barrigas he had a feeling he had to introduce him to his church, Churchome. Though he had no interest in going to church, he took the invitation and stopped by a few weeks later.

“I really liked what I saw because they took this approach that was very welcoming and nondenominational,” he said. “They didn't specifically have a denomination, they just sort of were Jesus people, as they put it. Their main interest was talking about these stories of the Bible and pondering on what they can mean.”

From 'The Chosen' to 'Forty-Seven Days with Jesus'

After his initial visit, Barrigas frequented the church for a few months and learned about the Old and New Testaments. During his time at the Church, he got a call from his agent, asking if he’d be interested in auditioning to play a disciple in “The Chosen.” He auditioned and landed the role of Philip the Apostle.

“I was already in that headspace and had already done a lot of homework on the subject so I felt very excited about the prospect of playing a disciple,” he said. “I don't think I heard back for three or four months and then all of a sudden, I got a call from the showrunner, basically saying that they want me on the show, but they just don't know who they want me to play. They had me read for another disciple and that's who I ended up playing.”

As Philip, Barrigas finally could dedicate time to developing a character. In season 2, Barrigas said he, the writers and the showrunners had some fun with his character, making him the "hippie" of the group.

“It was really fun being able to make him the one disciple that was actually prepared for the hardships of the road, excited by it and had been preparing his whole life for this thing," he said. "He was sort of like the head of the fraternity and those elements of the character excited me.”

But in season three, Phillip’s character took another turn. One that Barrigas respected but wasn’t sure he could perform.

“The writers decided to kind of turn him into something a bit different,” he said. “Maybe because they wanted to make sure that he wasn't getting close to being a perfect person like Jesus was. They kind of gave him some self-doubt-type stuff to explore and that got a little bit more difficult for me. Not that I wasn't up for the challenge but it was a 180 from the character we had created up to that point.”

After leaving “The Chosen,” Barrigas was approached early last year to star in his current role, no audition required. Excited to play a modern man instead of a Biblical disciple, he accepted.

“While it was an absolute blessing to explore (Philip) and explore that world, it definitely felt like the shackles coming off and a bit of liberation playing Joseph because I didn't have to focus on the accent or the time period, I can just be a regular person with regular issues today,” he said.

While working on the film, Barrigas said he felt lucky to have worked with such a collaborative team. He hopes audiences leave the theater with a renewed appreciation for the people and things in their lives and remember what Easter is truly about.

“It's easy in this capitalistic structure to get lost at sea and operate from a place of fear and survival,” he said. “At the end of the day, none of that strife means anything if it's not in the pursuit of enjoying the time you have with the ones you love.”

“Forty-Seven Days With Jesus” will be playing at Regal in the Cape Cod Mall and the Mashpee Commons at 7 p.m. on March 11, 12 and 14. For tickets, visit www.regmovies.com/.

Frankie Rowley covers entertainment and things to do. Contact her at frowley@capecodonline.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Yoshi Barrigas of 'The Chosen' stars in 'Forty-Seven Days with Jesus'