Does race matter in ‘The Bible’? Actor Lonyo Engele weighs in

theGRIO REPORT - During an interview with theGrio, Lonyo Engele from 'The Bible' says that the critically acclaimed TV series transcends race....

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

“Ultimately you’ve got to make your television realistic to your audience,” Engele remarks. “In America, there are black judges, black lawyers, and black commissioners as well as other races. Over here in Britain, it’s not prominent. So therefore, it’s gonna be hard for a black actor to play the head of the police, for example. Your documentaries, your movies, your shows, they have to be relative to your real life. It might be unrealistic to put somebody in that wouldn’t usually be there.”

How Lonyo Engele got his role in The Bible

As far as The Bible’s casting goes, Engele initially auditioned for the role of Balthazar, one of the Three Kings, but was turned down and later offered the Guardian Angel. Quite ironically, Engele’s back is covered with tattoos of archangels, something he says the producers noticed his first day on the set.

“They were so sold on the idea it was meant to be,” he recalls. “I do believe in Heaven and I do believe in the idea of trying to do good. I just wanted to have angels on my side to protect me, if that makes me feel better and doesn’t offend anyone…Ultimately it helped that I believed in God to play the role. I believe the Guardian Angel is a messenger of God.”

Engele’s own foray into Hollywood comes across as quite miraculous. He happened into the game one day after soccer practice when he dropped his friend off at an audition. A casting director approached him while he waited in the car, and suggested he come inside and read for the role too. Incidentally, he nailed it with no experience whatsoever.

“I go into the audition and they say, ‘Give us some emotion and read us the lines,’” Engele remembers. “I’m thinking what can I think of that will evoke that much emotion straightaway, and the only thing I could think of was my football team losing. I’m a big Liverpool fan. So I start getting upset, tears start coming to my eyes.”

By chance, he was offered the starring role in the independent film David is Dying, and went onto to win a “Best Actor” Award at the 2011 American Black Film Festival, and the Screen Nation “Best Actor” Award in London his first go around. Now he’s got an agent, a publicist, and his eyes set on the States as he spends his time diligently studying the craft. He’s also waiting on his DVD of The Bible to come in the mail, as it hasn’t premiered yet in the U.K.

For all this and the spontaneity of chance, Engele describes his life as “blessed.”

Follow Courtney Garcia on Twitter at @CourtGarcia

SHARE THIS ARTICLE