Vanessa Benavente, who plays Mother Mary on “The Chosen,” described the emotional toll of filming Season 6, comparing its lingering effects to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Benavente said that while filming Jesus’ crucifixion, she had to remind herself that everyone was safe and that what they were doing was not real.

“A few people would just start crying inconsolably after they yelled, ‘Cut,’” Benavente told host Bella Michaels in a conversation on the “off the record” podcast. Michaels is engaged to Giavani Cairo, who plays Thaddeus on “The Chosen.”

Benavente said that sometimes, after someone called, “Cut,” she would have to “jump up and down and go, ‘I’m safe, Jonathan is safe, everybody’s safe, we’re just playing make-believe.’” Jonathan Roumie is the actor who stars as Jesus in the series.

Benavente would also remind herself of where she was (Matera, Italy), “just really calming myself down,” she said, “and going, like, ‘This is not real, this is not real, this is not real.’ And it would help sometimes.” Sometimes it would not.

Vanessa Benavente: ‘It Was Crazy’

Vanessa Benavente is a Peruvian actor best known for portraying Mary, the mother of Jesus, in “The Chosen.” Five seasons of the show are currently out. Season 6, which covers the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, will begin streaming on Prime Video Nov. 15. The season finale will come out exclusively in theaters in the spring of 2027.

Benavente had a nearly two-hour conversation with Bella Michaels, a personal friend of hers, on Michaels’ podcast, “off the record.” The episode was released Monday, Sept. 14.

During their conversation, Benavente talked about growing up in Peru, her experience as an immigrant, and struggling with the entertainment industry’s beauty standards. She told Michaels that when she got the opportunity to audition for “The Chosen,” she was working in casting and didn’t have much coming her way as far as acting opportunities.

She was taken aback when she saw how the part of Mary was written. “What part of the Bible is this?” she wondered. “In my brain, Mary doesn’t talk like that.”

“I just loved that she had a sense of humor,” Benavente told Michaels. “It was very refreshing.”

Her audition for Mother Mary was “the best audition I’ve ever done,” Benavente said, and explained that she expected a callback or a chemistry reading but had to wait four days before she heard anything. When she did, she learned she had gotten the part and that the show was already filming.

Michaels asked how becoming a mother affected Benavente “growing into” the character of Mother Mary.

“Everything, everything,” Benavente replied. She shared that one of her audition scenes was of Mary “frantically looking” for Jesus. She had only recently become a mother when she auditioned and said that experience helped her tap into the emotions of her character.

Michaels wanted to know how Benavente made someone “so historically and spiritually significant be so relatable or tangible.” She pointed out that some people actually pray to Mary.

“The scripts” are the “guide,” said Benavente, calling “The Chosen” scripts “so well-crafted and…so beautiful.” The scripts conveyed a clear picture of Mary to Benavente, making it obvious that Mary was a real person, and helping the actor to relate the narrative to her own family members.

“What scene playing Mary Mother made you break emotionally so much?” Michaels wanted to know.

“All of them,” Benavente answered but then mentioned the Dayenu. The Dayenu is a traditional song sung at Passover that roughly translates to “it would have been enough.” Season 5 of “The Chosen” shows Jesus’ disciples reciting the Dayenu during the Last Supper. However, a different scene portrays the women who follow Jesus reciting a separate Dayenu for him.

“It was hard for me to breathe and say the words,” Benavente said of the scene, revealing that she could hardly speak at first when filming it.

“What she says to him is, ‘Even if I had just had that experience of you, having you in that dark, cold floor, that would have been enough,’” said Benavente. “And that’s so true for all moms.”

Michaels then asked about Matera, Italy, where the cast and crew filmed the crucifixion of Jesus. The podcast host said she got to be on set and asked Benavente what the experience was like. “I know those were dark days for all of y’all women out there, right?” Michaels said.