Auditions for local actors to be held in January

SALT LAKE CITY — A global search to identify actors for the LDS Church's "The New Testament" film project is winding down, with only select dates this month remaining for auditions in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.

Slated for eight weeks of filming beginning in May at an under-construction set in Utah County, the project will provide several dozen video vignettes of the life of Jesus Christ and other stories from the New Testament for multiple-format uses by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The casting division of the church's Audiovisual Department is seeking individuals resembling a variety of project-appropriate cultures and races — Semitic, Roman, Greek and Egyptian, as well as Middle Eastern, Southern European, Arabic and North African.

Preferred features include olive to brown skin tones, notable bone structure, dark hair (gray- and white-haired or balding appearances are fine) and men able to grow a beard.

The project anticipates casting some 50 principle and support roles, with many extra and featured extra roles as well. Seasoned actors, amateurs and even those with no experience may apply.

More information on the casting processes — including the submission of applications, resumes and headshots — is available at the church's casting website, casting.lds.org.

An additional link — lds.org/church/news/new-ad-promotes-casting-call-for-new-testament-project — provides detailed information. It also includes the project's first video, "The Parable of the Good Samaritan," a prototype filmed earlier this year and shown to the church's First Presidency for final project approval.

The last auditions for "The New Testament" project are scheduled for Jan. 5-8 and 12-15 in Salt Lake City and Jan. 18-20 in Los Angeles.

Previous auditions for the project have been held across the country and throughout the world, including in New York, California, Arizona, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Spain, the United Kingdom, France and Italy.

The roles are paid positions, with active members of the LDS faith preferred.

— Scott Taylor