By India McCarty
THE CHOSEN’s Shaan Sharma says playing Shmuel is “a real blessing” — even though he never planned on being an actor.
“Before I pursued acting in Los Angeles, I was in Minneapolis-St. Paul, and I pursued being a singer-songwriter in the Twin Cities for about 10 years, and then I moved to LA,” he said in a video on THE CHOSEN’s YouTube page. “Acting was something I did in Minnesota as a support to my music, and then that flipped when I came to LA.”
Today, Sharma plays Shmuel, one of the Pharisees, a role he calls “a very distinct, relatable character.”
“Because we all have a little bit of it in us at times where we can think we’re so right about something that it makes us blind to the truth that may be right in front of our eyes,” he explained. “He’s kind of a cautionary tale about making sure you don’t just abandon what you were taught or what you were raised to believe in without good reason, but you also have eyes to somehow have eyes to see something that is new and true.”
Related: We Finally Know When We’ll See THE CHOSEN Season 6 and 7
Sharma added, “For me, [acting is] just about experiencing the wonderful variety of life…it’s a real blessing.”
In addition to his work on THE CHOSEN, Sharma is also the founder of “Table Read,” a podcast where aspiring screenwriters can get their scripts read.
“Part of what we will say to writers is ‘Listen, if you got an amazing story that’s not moving, that’s just sitting on your hard drive or sitting on the shelf, why don’t we bring it to life? And then if somebody listens to it and loves it, it may give it a new lease on life to be sold or produced,” Sharma told The Hollywood Reporter.
He continued, “The hope is that we’re building kind of a wonderful library of stories, and that if our podcast continues to grow like it’s growing, then it’s even possible some of these stories will have a fan base or build up kind of an IP value that makes them even more marketable.”
Sharma is also working on Season 6 of THE CHOSEN, due out in 2027 with a special theater premiere.
“In a first-of-its-kind arrangement, Amazon MGM Studios and 5&2 Studios will release the Season 6 finale of the global phenomenon, THE CHOSEN, as a feature film portraying the crucifixion of Jesus, exclusively in theaters,” a press release announced.
CHOSEN fans can’t wait to see the next installment of this story and where it takes their favorite characters!
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