{"id":232599,"date":"2025-07-14T07:15:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T11:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=232599"},"modified":"2025-07-21T14:32:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T18:32:08","slug":"mfa-acting-alum-makes-name-for-himself-as-cast-member-on-the-chosen-last-supper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/07\/mfa-acting-alum-makes-name-for-himself-as-cast-member-on-the-chosen-last-supper\/","title":{"rendered":"MFA Acting Alum Makes Name for Himself as Cast Member on \u2018The Chosen: Last Supper\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Tony N. King<\/a> makes up his mind about something, he\u2019s firm in his choice \u2013 you might call him a man of action.<\/p>\n

\u201cDecision-making sends out this frequency that propels you in the direction you want to go further and faster,\u201d he says. \u201cThe more resolute that you are in your decision-making, I think the world conspires around the idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

That proved true early last year when King \u201923 MFA decided to move from Atlanta, where he eventually settled after grad work at UConn<\/a>, back to New York City, where he briefly landed after his undergrad and now was looking to return to make a go of it as an actor.<\/p>\n

Like dominos, everything fell into place.<\/p>\n

He called a friend to get permission to stay in his empty apartment for a month while he found his own. Then, three days before boarding the plane to head north, King booked three voiceover jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was serendipitous,\u201d he says of getting that work. \u201cNow I had to get to New York because I needed to be in the studio and that gave me momentum to keep things rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n

About two weeks into the move, even before he\u2019d found his own place, King came across an audition notice for a then-growing show he\u2019d never heard of. It was work, so he sent in a self-tape and two days later he was sitting with casting to book the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was insanely fast,\u201d he says. \u201cOnce I was fed up selling luggage in Atlanta, then everything moved into place. It felt like prayers being answered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some might say quite literally.<\/p>\n

That then-growing show was the acclaimed Biblical series \u201cThe Chosen,\u201d<\/a> twice rated the No. 1 show on Prime Video this year \u2013 and King had just secured a role in Season 5<\/a>, which was released in theaters in late March before making a streaming debut June 15.<\/p>\n

Resolving to Take Another Path<\/strong><\/h4>\n

While it isn\u2019t his first big-screen appearance \u2013 viewers can find him as an extra standing beside Eddie Murphy in \u201cComing 2 America\u201d<\/a> \u2013 the role, which carries through into Season 6, means King finally can say he\u2019s earning a living as an actor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had always been somewhat of an artsy, dramatic child,\u201d he says of his upbringing in Charlotte, North Carolina. \u201cI remember getting a karaoke machine and having a singing group in elementary school. But some level of realism smacked me in the face at some point, and I told myself I should probably consider being a doctor or a lawyer.\u201d<\/p>\n

He instead settled on studying business at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) and headed to New York after graduation to take a job in corporate finance and investment banking, a quick-lived position as he says he developed \u201can overwhelming feeling of, \u2018I don\u2019t want to die doing this forever,\u2019 and I also didn\u2019t want to leave this world saying, \u2018I didn\u2019t try because I was afraid.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Once he resolved to quit, King says he headed home to North Carolina in search of a fully funded MFA acting program. The problem was he\u2019d never taken an acting class, not a one, joking that the closest he got to creativity while working in corporate was designing a marketing flyer.<\/p>\n

He sought coaching from Andre Minkins at WSSU to prepare for the program URTA<\/a> – that\u2019s short for University Resident Theatre Association – which lets prospective MFA acting students audition and apply to hundreds of schools with one application. UConn\u2019s dramatic arts department<\/a> is among those schools, and brought King to Storrs.<\/p>\n

To prepare for his MFA, he booked a couple of children\u2019s theater shows, rubbed elbows with Eddie Murphy, and started doing some voiceover work. After UConn came a bit more children\u2019s theater and that job selling luggage in Atlanta, one might say another that caused him to wonder if this was it.<\/p>\n

Then, into King\u2019s life came the role of \u201cbird vendor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
Tony N. King ’23 (SFA) worked with “The Chosen” creator, director, co-writer, and executive producer Dallas Jenkins to bring to life the role of “bird vendor” in Season 5 of “The Chosen.” Jenkins asked King to return for Season 6, giving him a pivotal role in the series’ next installment about the crucifixion. (Contributed photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Bird in the Hand<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cThat immediately told me that I may be handling birds, because in the script were these doves and pigeons,\u201d he says. \u201cI knew I was going to be passing and holding birds, so an actor prepares.\u201d<\/p>\n

King says he found the most idyllic bird shop imaginable in Brooklyn, Pigeons on Broadway, with an owner who not only could catch pigeons midair but agreed to teach King how to master the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in \u2018Coming 2 America\u2019 and other various projects as an extra, I knew how quickly set moves. You need to be able to go when the director is ready for you, and I didn\u2019t want to be flustered over holding birds,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd now I can quite literally grab a bird off the street and hold it like it\u2019s a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

As \u201cbird vendor,\u201d King appears several times in episodes 2 and 3 of \u201cThe Chosen: Last Supper,\u201d<\/a> filmed on set in Utah in an area that replicated Jerusalem\u2019s Court of the Gentiles to the nth detail. That\u2019s the courtyard area outside the Jewish temple, where animal dealers sold livestock and birds for sacrifice.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also the location of the \u201ccleansing of the temple\u201d when Jesus tipped over tables and used a whip to drive, as he said, the merchants and moneymakers from his Father\u2019s house. Each season of \u201cThe Chosen\u201d covers a specific aspect of Jesus\u2019 life, with Season 5 featuring the Last Supper and events leading up to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we got on set, everything went super smooth,\u201d King says. \u201cDallas Jenkins, the director, has a very specific and keen eye for what he wants. He grew this show from a crowdfunded, indie project into this masterpiece. We had a blast on set, and now people all over the world get to see Jesus flip the table over on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a sentence King admits he never thought he\u2019d say – and at the end of filming came words he\u2019d only so far hoped would come.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my first contract, it says in so many words that my role \u2018may continue.\u2019 So, I had an idea that I could be invited back, but I knew I needed to do well for that to happen. Once I wrapped last season, Dallas came up to me and in his very soothsayer way said, \u2018There\u2019s more to come.\u2019 Sure enough, my character has developed into a spoiler for Season 6. Let\u2019s just say, he\u2019s a very pivotal character in the crucifixion,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Filming for Season 6, at least the scenes that included King, wrapped this month in Italy, and now he\u2019s in Paris celebrating his 30th birthday. Season 6 will depict Jesus\u2019 crucifixion.<\/p>\n

\u2018Grateful to be called to be a part of it\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s beautiful about portraying biblical characters is that you have these stories, although truth to some, that really represent metaphorically the pillars that we lean on: taking on the burdens of someone you never thought you could or would and really lending yourself to a stranger. I feel like we all can reason with that,\u201d King says.<\/p>\n

Raised as a member of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Charlotte, King says he\u2019s always been a spiritual person and in tune with faith, but not overtly religious. For the last two years, though, as he\u2019s prepared for the role, he\u2019s versed himself in the Gospel, coming to study the role of the disciples, Jesus\u2019 ministry and miracles, and eventual crucifixion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the story of the Bible can be diluted and changed and misconstrued, but as long as we have good people retelling these stories with their hearts and sharing these universal truths, I think we\u2019ll all be better off for it,\u201d King says.<\/p>\n

In a way, he goes on to say, his character in Season 6 reflects his place today in the world of acting and as a cast member on \u201cThe Chosen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re both just grateful to be part of something bigger,\u201d he says, adding, \u201cYou start to see the beauty and the magnificence that is Jesus and that is the people who he touched, and you\u2019re just grateful that you were called to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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