Christians In Entertainment: Eduardo Verastegui

Last updated on: May 20, 2014 at 4:16 am by Esther O’Reilly

Christians In Entertainment: Eduardo Verastegui 2014-05-20T04:16:45-04:00 Esther O’Reilly

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Pictured above is a face many of my readers might not recognize, but you’re probably familiar with his work in Christian film-making. Remember the pro-life film Bella? This is Eduardo Verastegui, the guy who produced and starred in it. Verastegui has been on the front lines of Catholic anti-abortion activism for years, regularly speaking out against the Obama administration and founding his own LA-based outreach organization “Manto de Guadalupe” (Mantle of Faith). Meanwhile, he’s continued to work in faith-based shorts and feature-length films. Most recently, he holds an executive producer credit on the Spanish version of Son of God, a theatrical adaptation of The Bible mini-series.

But the story of the winding road that led him to this place is fascinating. His testimony provides a perfect spotlight for the purposes of this series.
Eduardo was born in a small Mexican town and grew up in the Catholic faith, but his obvious good looks and acting talent led him astray from his heritage as he grew older and entered show business. He embarked on his dream career at age 18 without the blessing of his parents. For ten years, he modeled, did soap operas, and found success with a Mexican boy band. City-hopping, he finally landed in Los Angeles to learn English by immersion. Dance-pop superstar Jennifer Lopez chose him to play her lover in a music video. This role was soon followed by the lead part in a racy Latin comedy film called Chasing Papi. Verastegui played the ultimate ladies’ man, his character literally dating three women at once. Soon he had been nicknamed “Mexico’s Brad Pitt,” with girls clamoring for him on every side.
In this phase of his career, Verastegui describes himself as “superficial” and his philosophy as completely relativistic. He had bought the lie that there is no such thing as objective truth, only our own versions of it. And oddly enough, he wasn’t feeling the satisfaction that he should have felt as a young actor finally getting to live out his dream. Eduardo recalls:

After all that I was very confused because I realised that all the things that I had achieved, that I thought were going to bring me happiness, didn’t. I felt I had everything in my life, but then on the other side, in my heart, I had nothing. I was very empty and very confused and very lost. Something was missing in my life and I didn’t know what it was.

But God brought good out of his experience on the set of Chasing Papi. The actors were paired up with English coaches, and Eduardo’s was a devoutly Catholic, persistent woman who immediately began pressing him to reconsider his life’s purpose. She challenged him to consider the cross around his neck as more than a forgotten decoration. She asked him whether he was content to follow the Hollywood pattern for Latin men—liar, cheater, womanizer—or whether he would dare to break out of the mold and become a man of integrity. Her probing questions were perfectly timed to coincide with Verastegui’s own growing uneasiness in the Hollywood path.
The change did not occur immediately, but six months later, Verastegui chose to rededicate himself to God. He realized he was being used by the establishment, blinded by his eagerness for fame and fortune. Now, nothing less than a clean break would do:

God changed my heart and I had to repent of my past. And from that day on, I promised that I would never do anything to offend God or my Latino heritage. I would never do anything to compromise my faith. That’s the moment I realized that the purpose of my life was to know and to love God.

Eduardo had decided that film was no longer his calling, and he should pursue missionary work in Brazil instead. But his priest had a different perspective. He believed God still had plans for Eduardo in the industry, but that Eduardo would have to wait until the right opportunity came along. This ignited a new vision in Eduardo’s mind: to someday make films that would make a difference, “to produce fruit for the world, not filth.”
With Eduardo’s new-found resolution came the uncomfortable realization that he might never work again. For four years, he was bombarded with offers, every single one of which he turned down, because all of them perpetuated the same decadent image he sought to leave behind. This choice didn’t come without a price. Eventually, it got so bad that he could no longer pay the rent. People around him, including close friends, tried to persuade him otherwise. Some of them argued that not all his scenes would be equally explicit, and some maybe only a few minutes long. But Eduardo pointed out that these scenes can take “all day” to shoot, and even if the scene involves “just” passionate kissing, “it can play with your mind, especially your thoughts, since the woman in the passionate scene could be married or in a serious relationship.” As a young, single man, he knew it would be playing with fire to court temptation in any way, and all the more so with scenes where “the Blessed Virgin Mary or my mother would have to cover their eyes.”
To bring his vision to fruition, Eduardo needed money, and four years of turning down “filth” had left him completely broke. But unbeknownst to him, God was also providentially working in the heart of a close friend’s younger brother back in Mexico City. Alejandro Monteverde has experienced a similar re-conversion and began writing the story of what would become Bella. And he wanted Eduardo to play the main role. But Monteverde was penniless as well. The two men formed a partnership anyway and waited on God to provide. Then, in yet another twist of providence, God brought them together with Leo Severino, a former business manager at 20th Century Fox who had also left Hollywood behind to use his talents redemptively. They christened their brand new film company Metanoia (Repentance) Films. But the money still wasn’t there yet.
It was then that Verastegui received the chance to visit Rome and meet with Pope John Paul II, shortly before his death. Verastegui asked the Pope to pray for the fledgling film company. A mere ten days later, they met a financier who believed in their vision enough to give them the $3 million needed for Bella.
After Metanoia Films was founded, Verastegui founded his Guadalupe outreach organization for pregnant girls in 2005. Bella came out in 2006, debuting at the Toronto Film Festival. Word of mouth gave it a surprisingly long theatrical run. It won a People’s Choice Award and wide critical acclaim. The story follows a day in the life of a young waitress who discovers she’s pregnant only to be fired from her job. Verastegui plays the older brother of the restaurant’s manager, leaving his own chef’s post there to follow her through New York City and get to know her better. In the process, he reveals pieces of his own hidden past.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PthGeWTPgbo?rel=0&w=500&h=315 As a side note, I find it amusing that despite the unpopular anti-abortion message of the film, 44% of the critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave it a “fresh” rating, which is more than three times as high as the rating given to Eduardo’s breakout film Chasing Papi. Not only did his re-dedication to God lead him to make movies with a better message, it just led him to make better movies, period.
Since the success of Bella, Verastegui has remained busy with his political activism and his film work. He campaigned vigorously against Barack Obama both in 2008 and in 2012. He starred in the inspiring short The Butterfly Circus, which also stars Nick Vujicic as “the limbless man” in a circus troupe, and appeared in the pro-Catholic film For Greater Glory, which chronicles the little-known Cristero War of 1920s Mexico. Interestingly, he wasn’t afraid to criticize For Greater Glory actress Eva Longoria for her Democrat activism in the 2012 election year. He said it was especially ironic that, as a fellow Latino, she would contribute to the campaign of someone whose abortion agenda has exploited so many Latinos (and other minorities).
Verastegui and his friend Monteverde also helped produced a short film called Crescendo about the birth of Beethoven, which was spearheaded by Justin Bieber’s mother of all people! As of now, his small company is in post-production on their largest-scale project yet, a period piece called Little Boy that follows a fatherless 8-year-old through WWII. It appears that the project was shelved for a couple years after its announcement in 2011, but it’s now set for release in February 2015, with top-flight actors like Emily Watson in major roles.
Today, Eduardo reflects gratefully, “There is nothing more exciting than waking up every morning to fight for something you believe in.” In this article, he shares two stories about how he was personally able to stop an abortion through his work on Bella.
There’s no question that God has blessed the fruit of Eduardo’s labor. You might call him the Catholic Kirk Cameron, who made a similar break with Hollywood and now also produces his own faith-friendly films. Still, we might note that Eduardo’s initial radical refusal to accept any Hollywood work was greatly simplified by the fact that he was single. He also had a clear vision for ultimately starting his own film company. Moreover, the fact that English wasn’t his first language limited the range of his offers to sleazy Latin stereotypes. What about an equally pious actor who’s not single and has no production aspirations? Could he afford to be similarly ruthless in turning down roles? Or would he have more options as a native English speaker? Tune in next time…

Christians in Entertainment

Faith and Culture

Previous Post

May 19, 2014

Monday Morning Humor: "I'm Under Anointing!"

Next Post

May 22, 2014 CD Review: Angel at the Crossroads, by High Road III

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 3 star 3.5 star 4 star 4.5 star Anatomy of a Song Behind the Songs Blog Stuff Book Reviews CCM CCM vs. SG CD Reviews Christians in Entertainment Christmas Essential 12 Christmas Favorites Christmas Top Fives Concert Reviews Concerts Culture Devotional Thoughts Faith and Culture From the Vault Fun Gospel Singers Gospel Songs Great Music Guest Posts Harmony Master Classes History Holidays Humor Hymns Interviews Marriage in the Movies Monday Morning Humor Movie Reviews Movies Music NQC Odds and Ends Old Movies, New Eyes Old Southern Gospel News Old Stuff Open Threads Other Genres Perfect Tenor Performances Polls Questions and Answers Recently Added SG vs. The Rest of the World Sing It Again Songs Songwriting Southern Gospel Surprise Sunday The Definitive Hymns Theology Toe-to-Toe Top 10 Lists Top 5 Top 5 Lists Two Sisters Review Uncategorized Video Posts Youtube Finds

Select a Month August 2026 February 2025 August 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 October 2023 March 2023 February 2023 December 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 June 2020 March 2020 February 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 April 2018 September 2017 August 2017 May 2017 February 2017 December 2016 November 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What small part of the body does James say is a restless evil, full of deadly poison?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The eye The tongue The hand The heart