“All Heart with Paul Cardall” Interviews Actor Noah James for Special Easter Episode

Actor Noah James joins Paul Cardall’s “All Heart” podcast for a special Easter episode sponsored by the online counseling service BetterHelp where they talk about James’ role as St. Andrew on the crowdfunded biblical show “The Chosen,” his journey to becoming an actor and his thoughts on life and finding joy.  

Coming into its second season, “The Chosen” is a show created by Dallas Jenkins who has also been a guest on Cardall’s show that promotes “seeing Jesus through the eyes of those who knew Him.”

James explains how the audition process went for becoming the character of Andrew, sharing that originally he auditioned for the role of Simon after Jenkins specifically asked for him to come in and audition. 

“I knew that I wasn’t quite in the target for Simon, not that I wasn’t going to act it my way or bring myself to it, but as actors, we are our own instrument. And I knew that it wasn’t quite in the bullseye of the character. So when that happens, when you get auditions like that, you prepare and you really bring yourself to it, and you do your best with it. But you really are auditioning for the show as a whole and you’re kind of going like, ‘Look, I’m doing the work. And I may not fit this exactly. But hopefully there’s something else here for me.’ And that’s exactly what happened.” 

Aside from his role as Andrew, James has also acted in shows like “Shameless,” “Gilmore Girls,” the movie “La La Land” and others. He also shares his deep passion for music, which he still keeps as a hobby after disbanding from the brief middle school stint in which him and his buddies formed a Green Day cover band. 

Despite loving music, he explains that the life of a musician never appealed to him quite as much as acting did.

“The thing that really made me realize that this is what I wanted to do with my life was the idea that I could live an infinite amount of lives in one life, and experience all the things that humanity has to experience,” he says.

“What I looked at that I was really excited about with Andrew was, I loved the idea of that brother, sort of in the background. Whereas, I’m used to being on stage as an actor. I like the idea of being in the background, trying to just work things out as best as possible, intellectually, not the one to run into a fight.”

For his answer to one of Cardall’s routine “All Heart” questions about what gives James the most amount of joy in his life, he answers with the same genuine authenticity and thoughtfulness that he brings to each of his characters. 

“I love celebrating humanity. It’s why I will listen to classical music or go see Shakespeare or listen to EDM as I’m running as fast as I can. I just love the human spirit. I love what we’re able to accomplish.” 

For more on his relationship with costars, on-set stories, his time at NYU and more, check out “All Heart with Paul Cardall.”