Roma Downey: A Mother's Heart

By Gwen Orel

Roma Downey, with her husband Mark Burnett, are the producers of the 10-hour miniseries on The History Channel, The Bible.

Burnett is the producer of The Voice and Survivor, and Downey came to fame as the star of Touched by an Angel.

In The Bible, Roma plays Mother Mary. She is originally from Derry City, Ireland.

Irish Examiner USA (IEUSA): Is her story of particular interest to the Irish?

Roma: I have seen that on the outskirts of my "Bible" mind. It's all things Bible here.

I have lived in America for the last 25 years and while my family are all still in Derry City and Donegal, within a 30-mile radius of where I was born and raised, I'm the youngest of six and the one that got away.

For the last four years we have been lovingly mired in all things "Bible."

IEUSA: Were you always a believer?

Roma: I was born into faith, into a house of faith. My earliest memory is of my father sitting me on his knee and reading the Bible to me.

I was educated by the Sisters of Mercy, or as we used to call them, the Sisters of No Mercy.

My own mother passed away when I was just a little girl and I really got such comfort from my faith.

My own devotion to the Blessed Mother was such a comfort to me in the absence of my own mother. It was an enormous privilege also to step into that role.

IEUSA: Was it intimidating to play Mary? What was it like?

Roma: I did not go over to Morocco with the intention of playing any part. I went over with my producer's hat firmly on my head.

The opportunity arose and my husband said, "I think you're missing the obvious here.

You need to play this role yourself," when we were having trouble casting it.

I'm glad that I did. I am a mother myself.

What I brought to it was a mother's heart.

To feel those scenes through a mother's heart and to see those scenes from our story through a mother's eyes, it was very poignant, very meaningful, very emotional work.

It was humbling but it was beautiful to play her. I loved it. I love her, and I loved playing her.

IEUSA: Do you think it was as important to be a mother as it was to be a believer to inhabit that role?

Roma: I bring a great love of Mary to the role, and reverence and respect.

Yes, I think that playing a mother is something very tangible and that was something I could really wrap my head around, and bring my own experience to that.

I can't begin to imagine what she must have felt, but certainly those scenes at the foot of the cross were highly charged emotional days for everyone involved.

That those episodes will air on the Easter Sunday is particularly meaningful and will be very touching.

The story of course does not conclude there. We go through to the end of our bible, through Resurrection, through Ascension, we have Pentecost.

We go right through the conversion of Paul and into ending up briefly on Revelation.

That was our commitment, when we stepped up, ambitiously so, that we would bring those stories from Genesis to Revelation.

We wished we had more time and could have told more stories.

On the other hand, we're very grateful to have had 10 hours on the History channel.

We did the best we could to condense and to make emotional connections. It was important to have told these stories from a human point of view.

These characters did not know they were in the Bible, part of some great book we would call the Bible, they were real people struggling with the things that we all struggle with.

And we tried to present that and bring that to the screen to allow an audience to emotionally engage.

IEUSA: Which story would you have included if you had time?

Roma: The story of Joseph would have been one we would have wished we had more time and money.

It's such a great story from our Old Testament.

If we attempt to go back and pick up some stories that would certainly be one that we would do.

IEUSA: How was it when you were first here from Ireland? Did you have trouble adjusting?

Roma: My first job in New York was as a coat check girl at Memphis, on the upper west side, in the '70s on Columbus Avenue, years and years ago while I was still trying to get jobs in the New York theatre, before I worked at the New York Shakespeare festival and the Roundabout, before I could get arrested I was checking coats, and I remember checking the coat for Regis Philbin, and he left me a gigantic tip, and I thought I died and went to heaven. Years later I was invited onto his show as the guest star.

It's such a great American story. I reminded him. He said, "Uh oh, there's only two reasons you'd be telling me this: either I stiffed you or I left you a big tip."

I said, "I wouldn't come on your show and tell a bad story about you." It was my first experience, I was quite new to New York, and it was my first experience with the Irish Americans.

I was very very homesick. I remember people saying, "Where are you from, you have an Accent".

And I would say "Ireland" and they would say "I'm Irish too," and I would ask rather hopefully, "Oh really, where are you from?" and they would say New Jersey, or Boston, or Philadelphia, and I would think, "How wonderful is that... we're everywhere. We're taking over the world."

Gwen Orel runs the blog and podcast New York Irish Arts