By Kayla DeKraker
HACKSAW RIDGE actor Nathaniel Buzolic, best known for his role in THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, found a relationship with Jesus in a very “unconventional” way.
“I became a Christian on a very, very popular TV show called THE VAMPIRE DIARIES,” he said during a conversation with Pastor Bobby Chandler. “I have an unconventional Christian journey. I didn’t grow up in the Christian church. I didn’t go to church. I didn’t have a father that was a pastor. Actually, I don’t know my father.”
Buzolic explained that he grew up in a single-parent household with a refugee mother. She had fled Egypt and moved to Australia. Buzolic wanted to give his mother and himself a better life because they really struggled early on.
“We were broke…I was, you know, very, very skinny,” he explained. “My school realized that I wasn’t eating at school, and I thought, I need to find a way to get my mum and myself out of poverty. And it became acting. So I became obsessed with making it as an actor.”
He explained how after 10 years of hard work, he finally achieved his goal, but it wasn’t everything he dreamed of.
“It was the most unsatisfying moment of my life to think, ‘Okay, you’ve made it. You have everything that, you know, a lot of people have always wanted.’ Fame… money was on its way,” he said.
Despite having everything he thought he wanted, Buzolic felt “unsatisfied.” Then, he realized what he was missing.
He explained, “I went to a conference, which was a Passion Conference in 2012, and there was one thing that Louis Giglio said at the end of the third night that rocked me. In a crowd of 50,000 people, he said, ‘What’s the most important thing in your life?’ And in my head, I said, ‘I’m an actor. It’s acting. It’s my identity, it’s my purpose, it’s where I get my value from.’”
Then Giglio said something that shocked Buzolic.
“And then he said the next statement, ‘If it’s not Jesus, it’s never going to satisfy it.’ And in that moment of time, I became a Christian,” Buzolic said.
Today, Buzolic speaks openly about his faith. He owns a Christian jewelry company called Palms Sunday Co., and he leads people on tours through the Holy Land.
He has also received a lot of hate for his support of the Jewish people.
In an interview, he explained, “I get death threats, and I think my career in Hollywood has probably come to a complete halt. For me, I take it as an honor and a joy that I can actually give something up for a people I consider a friend, which is the Jewish identity. Whether you love me or hate me, I’ll do it.”
Buzolic’s life is a powerful testimony of finding satisfaction in Christ alone and putting Him before anything else, even if it costs something.
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
- Content: +4Share:
- Content: +1