article_snippet: Sleiman was raised in Lebanon.
article_snippet: Sleiman is thick-featured and broad-shouldered.
article_snippet: And Sleiman is robustly hirsute, the very opposite of the wispily-bearded Ted Neely from the Jesus Christ Superstar of my youth.
article_snippet: Speaking of the wispily-bearded Ted Neely from the Jesus Christ Superstar of my youth, Sleiman is just one in a long line of blue-eyed Jesuses in art and film.
article_snippet: Sleiman is a welcome break from that tradition, but some people have voiced displeasure at Sleiman casting.
article_snippet: My religion is inclusivity," Sleiman told me, and Sleiman is an effective evangelist of My religion.
article_snippet: Sleiman is unashamed to talk about Sleiman connection to God, Sleiman respect for all three Abrahamic faiths -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- and in the "beauty and magnificence of humanity.
article_snippet: To play Jesus, Sleiman said, Sleiman simply focused on the divinity that Sleiman believes is available to all human beings, a divinity that Jesus was specially aware of.