Here’s What Makes THE CHOSEN a ‘Beautiful Experience’ for This Actor
By Movieguide® Contributor
THE CHOSEN’s Jordan Walker Ross says his time on the show has been “a beautiful experience,” as he reflects on his start in acting.
“I was born in Arlington, Texas, two months premature. Because of that, I developed cerebral palsy and scoliosis,” Ross, who plays Little James, said during an episode of THE BROSEN podcast.
Ross shared that his grandfather, Barry Corbin, was also an actor, and so he “grew up on and off movie sets.”
“I grew up seeing that up close and personal and fell in love with filmmaking and acting and movies in general,” he explained.
Ross detailed his early experiences as an actor, from living in LA and “digging through my couch to find change so I could go get dollar menu food from McDonald’s” to performing in fake Wild West gunfight shows at Six Flags.
Eventually, Ross returned to Texas, where he began working at Texas’ KD Conservatory as a teacher and in the admissions department. One day, he got a notice about casting for THE CHOSEN.
“I read [the script] and almost declined, because the last, like, probably 30 auditions, I didn’t book,” he explained. “Then I saw they were holding the auditions in the building that I worked at…literally a 30-second walk from my desk.”
Ross auditioned on his lunch break and quickly received a callback and then the role itself.
“I was like, ‘Oh, this is amazing!’” he said, despite the fact that he was really only in one scene “with, like, three lines.”
Ross explained, “I thought that would be the extent of it” but was happily surprised by the fact that his role continued to grow.
“The consistency of being able to be on set every day — I absolutely love the days that I get to work on THE CHOSEN, whether I have any dialogue or not…I just love getting to show up and hang out,” he said.
Ross continued, “Very few actors have an opportunity to be a regular on a show that lasts more than one season, much less — now we’re on Season 5, so the level of experience you gain doing that, you’re truly ready for anything.”
“It’s been such a beautiful experience,” the actor said of his time on THE CHOSEN.
Ross has often spoken about how his own life experiences have been incorporated into Little James’ story, specifically a scene where Little James asks Jesus why he hasn’t been healed.
“It was an opportunity to kind of address something that’s really tricky. The relationship between faith and healing is a really complicated one,” he told Fort Worth Report. “Regardless of what someone’s religion is, it’s really tricky when there are children with cancer or people born without limbs or different things like that. I’m really grateful that we started that conversation, and we’re able to shine a light on something and a community that isn’t really represented in media.”
At the Salvation Army 37th Annual Circle of Service event earlier this month, Ross said, “After that scene came out, I started to get messages from fans saying that it meant a lot because they have a disability or their child does. That’s when I started to really see how important it was to show a character with this struggle.”
Movieguide® previously reported on how Ross’ disability has been incorporated into the show:
Jordan Walker Ross plays Little James in THE CHOSEN and, like his character, was born with a disability.
In a recent video, Ross revealed that he was born with cerebral palsy and scoliosis.
“When [showrunner] Dallas [Jenkins] came to me and asked if we could make my own disability part of the character, that was exciting and scary at the same time,” he explained, adding that it gave depth to Little James’ character.
“All of a sudden, Little James has a little more to his story than he initially did. He’s no longer just this happy little helper,” Ross explained. “You see that there’s a little more going on under the surface.”
By choosing to talk about his disability on screen through his role in THE CHOSEN, Ross said he felt more confident discussing it in real life.
“At this point in my life, I wouldn’t want to be healed,” Ross said. “It’s almost a responsibility to use this to help others,” adding, “If [my friends and family] can love and accept me as I am, then why can’t I love and accept myself?”
He concluded, “It’s just about learning to love those things about yourself that you would love in someone else.”
