Actor Stelio Savante Talks Shining Christ’s Light in Hollywood
Stelio Savante was only a few years into his acting career about two decades ago when a fellow church member asked him a question that gave him pause: Why do you always play criminals?
"I struggled with it," Savante told Christian Headlines.
At the time, Savante, a Christian, had portrayed bad guys in several projects, including The Sopranos and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In recent years, he portrayed a thief on the cross in the film The Two Thieves (2014), for which he won an American Movie Award.
He says he took the question to heart and began asking himself, "How does that glorify God?" Savante then asked pastor Mike Finizio of Harvest Christian Fellowship in New York City for advice.
"He said, 'First of all, it's between you and the Lord.' But secondly, the Bible [is] if not the most R-rated books [at least] one of. … It actually behooves us to show characters where there's consequences for their sin [and] sin is not glorified."
A redemptive story, the South African-born Savante said, requires "bad characters."
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Originally published March 10, 2023.