MIDLOTHIAN, Texas — One of the most heartfelt moments in Season 1 of “The Chosen” involves a female character who isn’t named in the pages of the Bible.
After calling Simon Peter to be his disciple, Jesus, played by actor Jonathan Roumie, visits Simon’s wife, Eden, played by Lara Silva. Standing in her first century kitchen, Jesus acknowledges Eden’s sacrifices in supporting her husband and lightens her burden by healing her sick mother.
“I see you,” Jesus tells a teary-eyed Eden in the show.
The scene is based on an often-overlooked account recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.
“We just know that Simon Peter had a wife because Jesus healed his mother-in-law. That’s all we really know,” Silva said. “For the writers to write in these beautiful moments for Simon, for Eden and Jesus, it highlights and brings women forward, gives us a voice and I think it’s been wonderful for women to relate to as well.”
The tender scene is one of several in which the faith-based series focuses on the key role of women in Jesus’ ministry.
“We want to spotlight women ... and the importance of women in this story because it seems like there were key moments in Jesus’ ministry where he specifically chose women to be a vital part of it,” Dallas Jenkins, the shows’ creator and director, said in a video. “Women at that time didn’t have prosperous careers. There wasn’t a significant role in society. The role was within the team.”
“The Chosen” features several women in prominent roles, from Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene to Simon’s wife, Eden, and Tamar, an Ethiopian woman who witnesses Jesus heal a leper and later joins the group of disciples.
As “The Chosen” finished filming Season 3, the Deseret News attended an August media event on the show’s set at Camp Hoblitzelle, near Dallas, Texas, where Silva, Elizabeth Tabish, who plays Mary Magdalene, and Amber Shana Williams, who plays Tamar, talked about their experiences of portraying New Testament women on “The Chosen.”
‘Jesus sees them and will be there’
For Silva, her character’s “I see you” scene with Jesus is one of the most powerful in the show and she still gets choked up just thinking about it. What it conveys to her is that Simon’s wife is just as important to Jesus as her husband Simon is, a message that resonates with women today.
“I’ve gotten a lot of messages from women, especially friends who are stay-at-home moms, and it reminded them that they have a purpose and can find joy, even if they have to put their dreams and aspirations aside,” Silva said. “Jesus sees them and will be there with them as well.”
The multilingual actress who was born in Brazil and grew up in Florida said she found God when she discovered her passion for acting in her early 20s. As a result, Silva feels right at home with “The Chosen.”
One of her biggest challenges was figuring out how to portray Simon’s wife when very little is known about her. Knowing some of his characteristics, she tried to imagine what kind of woman would marry the fisherman-turned-disciple.
“I think that we balance each other,” Silva said. “She’s a strong woman of faith and everything, but I think she’s his rock. Simon is essentially Jesus’ rock, he’s always got his back and is there to defend him. So I felt Eden needed to be that for Simon.”
Silva has personally relied on heavenly support and her faith, both in her desire to perform well for the show and against some “pushback” from loved ones who have not been supportive, she said.
“There has been some pushback from family members and I just stand firm,” she said. “I’m still learning as I go that I have to rely and get my support from Jesus and not from family and friends. They are not always supportive as you would like them to be.”
‘You are mine’
Tabish endeared herself to fans of “The Chosen” with her moving portrayal of Mary Magdalene in the first episode of Season I.
As a depressed, lonely soul battling demons, Mary is about to drink away her problems in a first century bar when Jesus appears and places his hand on hers to stop her. She tells him to leave her alone and hurries out, but he follows her outside. He calls her by name, quotes scripture and tells her “You are mine” before pulling her into his healing, redeeming embrace.
That’s almost exactly where Tabish was before “The Chosen” came along.
She was living in Austin, Texas, doing some commercial work but mostly dealing with years of depression, chronic back pain and sleeping too much.
“I was self-medicating, I was drinking a lot and couldn’t quite find purpose or meaning. I felt like I was in this loop of despair,” she said. “It’s funny to talk about it now because I don’t feel it at all. That’s so far removed from life now, but I couldn’t see a future.”
At one point, she lost her apartment and moved in with her mother while she contemplated a career change. She was ready for something new but didn’t think it would be the role of her dreams.
When she read the role for Mary Magdalene, she instantly connected with the character in an intense way and thought if she couldn’t get the role, she shouldn’t be in acting.
“I got the call back, I met Dallas (Jenkins), I felt like this was written for me in a way that gave me a new start, which is literally what happens to Mary,” Tabish said.
Tabish complimented the show’s writers for how they have developed Mary Magdalene and other female characters to make them “human” and “realistic,” “not one-dimensional.” These characters makes the show personal for viewers who can relate.
“I think this type of representation has been lacking in media in Hollywood,” she said. “I think there are plenty of stories of women with PTSD, sexual trauma or pain from their past, but they don’t always show this other side, which is this redemption, a new chapter and a freedom from the shame, guilt and pain of the past.”
Some of those women have met Tabish at public events, and in a quick exchange with tears flowing, shared deeply personal experiences with her and how her portrayal of Mary Magdalene has helped them.
“These moments that are so intense, so sweet and really vulnerable, incredible to experience, but then we can’t help but move on to the next person,” Tabish said. “I want to say to anyone that’s done that, like, I still think about you and hope you are doing well.”
‘Your faith is beautiful’
After witnessing Jesus heal a leper in Season 1, William’s character Tamar is portrayed as the Ethiopian woman who, with the help of friends, lowers a paralytic friend through the roof to be healed by Jesus.
“Your faith is beautiful,” Jesus said looking upward through a hole in the roof at her.
Believe it or not, that deeply emotional scene was Williams’ first day on the set. She was living in Madrid, Spain, when she auditioned for “The Chosen” and relocated to Texas at her own expense when offered the role. She didn’t know anyone else on the cast that first day, yet she felt a “divine presence” with the project and said “it just happened.”
“The theme is that there is healing through healing. That’s what she (Tamar) got and that is what I get,” Williams said.
Williams applauds “The Chosen” for including more women as they tell the story of Jesus through the perspectives of those around him. She also appreciates how the women are not just portrayed as “these sad, weepy, soft beings,” but faithful women who can be “strong and powerful.”
“The women were a deeply interwoven part of his ministry,” she said. “In Season 3, we’re going to be seeing a lot more of that, of how they have become front and center and a driving force behind the ministry.”
There are days when Williams feels overwhelmed with “imposter syndrome” because she is part of “The Chosen,” a crowd-funded, multiseason series with more than 400 million views.
“It’s because the people want that,” she said. “They are feeling so deeply because that’s what it is to be human and they want to be deeply connected to something and someone and to feel purpose. I think ‘The Chosen’ does a really good job of relating to people in that way, which is why they love it so much.”
