Juan Pablo Di Pace quotes:

I wanted Jesus in 'A.D.' to be very, very, very human - to have those qualities of vulnerability and doubt and pain and sadness and loneliness. Once the resurrection happens and we see that Jesus has risen, it's almost complete, right? It's all about the joy and the smile and the happiness and the closeness to the disciples.

I got the call to play Tony Manero in 'Saturday Night Fever' in Madrid, a role I'd always wanted, as it's such a well-constructed show, and my background is in musical theatre. I'd been travelling back and forth between London and Spain for auditions and had been borrowing money from friends to do it.

After 2012, there's been a shift in humanity, society and economics. We're witnessing a transition: everything is changing really fast - with that comes a wanting to see and believe, and faith and spirituality come into play. I think the world is now more spiritual than it ever was because people are searching for answers.

I never lost my dreams in my 20s, and I know that sounds corny, but it's incredibly important to never let go of what you really want in your life.

Religious or biblical can sometimes be a little soft, but 'A.D.' doesn't shy away from the violence of the time, the political intrigue. The story is really about the resurrection of faith, which is how the disciples went about keeping the word of Christ. So, they found all kinds of trouble and problems and torture and persecution.

Sometimes I feel that in religious content, religious drama, it's almost told like a tale, like an account of facts, and in 'A.D. The Bible Continues,' it's drama, it's real drama that we like to see on TV today, seeing the characters struggle and doubt and be completely in conflict with each other, kind of like 'House of Cards.'

I think that nobody - certainly in this world - can say that they don't have the human denial element about them or fear or whatever it is as juxtaposed with faith and hope and freedom and love.

I remember watching Robert Powell many years ago. He did 'Jesus of Nazareth,' and I remember thinking that was probably my favorite. Once I got the role, I didn't want to watch anything, because it only influences what you do.

I spent ten years in London; I trained there. But because I started in English, it kind of feels the most natural to me, to act in English, which is a strange thing. My language is Spanish; I grew up in Argentina. I speak to my family in Spanish, but if you were to ask me what language I connect with, it'd be English in some weird way.

For 'A.D.,' when I got the script, I was really moved, because even though it told a story that I knew all my life, it was told in a different way. It was told from a very personal point of view.

I struggled in London for a very long time. 'Be prepared to struggle a lot' - it's a European mentality. The American mentality is positive and 'You can do it' and 'Everything's possible.' In Europe it's an older, more realistic way of thinking. You feel like you're having to prove that you can do it.

Every time I stepped onto the stage as Jesus, it felt like someone was pouring some honey into my body. It was amazing, an amazing feeling. And then when I had to let go of it, it was hard.

I'm like the black sheep of my family.

The world we live in today is very, very diverse. It has extremism on one side, it has incredible liberal aspects to it on the other.

I went to church every Sunday...I understood Christmas and what Easter was about. I understood the persecution of Christ, the crucifixion of Christ, the Resurrection of Christ. I understood all that but I have to say that beyond that...for me, my knowledge after that was quite vague.

Everyone thinks they know Jesus because they've got a personal relationship with him.

The stage is that immediate rush of energy you get from the audience. Also, doing something in chronology - something that starts and finishes the same night. In television, you work toward the one scene, you shoot it, and then you have to forget about it because you have to worry about the next scene.

You realize that as much as you want to socialize with the people on the set, or you want to, after a day shooting, joke around or whatever. Somehow, with playing Jesus, this doesn't happen. You actually need to decompress and be on your own and prepare on your own. It never happened to me before.

Mamma Mia' and 'Dallas' have proved to me that the things you dream about can happen. I don't ask myself, 'How did I get here?' but instead, 'I deserve to be here. I was right to think this would happen.' I'm a firm believer in the power we have in our minds to want something and pursue it in a sane and focused way.

I think that it's always great for any actor to play somebody who breathes and lives and is just a regular guy and has faults like we all do.

I love finding the vulnerability in characters. There's truth there. There's beauty in vulnerability.

I guess it doesn't matter how much homework you do. When you're on set, you gotta forget it and throw it out the window and, hopefully, some magic happens.