Published: December 11, 2024
Serving People With Mental Health Issues Change This CHOSEN Actor’s Life
By Movieguide® Contributor
THE CHOSEN’s Abe Bueno-Jallad explained how serving people with mental health issues gave him a new outlook on life and a greater value on mental stability.
“You know, there’s a component of mental health which is like to try and understand what people are going through, and so, you know, my work in New Mexico like on the reservations or in disparaged communities, it really showed me that people were going through some very very tough stuff in their life,” Bueno-Jallad, who plays Big James in THE CHOSEN, told Movieguide®.
Before becoming an actor, Bueno-Jallad worked in psychiatric research in New Mexico.
“His background in mental health gives him a distinctive emotional depth and empathy, something that surely contributes to the authenticity of his performances,” The City El Paso reported.
“…when you get really close and personal with that and it’s not too far off from what we’re doing here,” he continued, referencing the story told in his upcoming short film. “Obviously the difference is that I’m taking these on for myself under this creative world umbrella that we’re doing. I think for the most part, man, clearing your [mind] or achieving a place of mental stability is definitely an undervalued resource in our everyday lives. I’m always glad to apply that, and that job 100% showed me things and changed things in my life without a doubt.”
READ MORE: HERE’S WHEN THE CHOSEN SEASON 5 WILL HIT THEATERS
Bueno-Jallad’s newest project, TIERRA ROJA, focuses on the events that led up to the treaty of Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American war, and how that profoundly impacted the people already living on the land.
“We want [audiences] to be entertained while also being kind of educated about this historical event that happened here in New Mexico called the treaty of Hidalgo and what that might’ve affected people here in the southwest,” producer Marilyn Brandis told ABC 7. “And so, we want to put New Mexico on the map and the historical event that happened here but also a view into how people’s lives might have been back then in the 1850s.”
READ MORE: THE CHOSEN CAST REVEALS ‘HARD’ LESSONS DISCIPLES LEARN IN SEASON 4