Actor Michael Iskander plays a future king on HOUSE OF DAVID, but he won’t let even that role define who he is.
“My identity is not an actor,” Iskander told “The Lila Rose Show” podcast host Lila Rose earlier this year.
The question sounded like an invitation to celebrate his big break: Had playing David helped him step into his identity? Iskander acknowledged a calling, then made clear that his career didn’t come first.
“I’m a follower of Jesus.” For the actor, that relationship takes priority over his work.
That’s a pointed distinction for someone whose breakthrough role puts him inside one of Scripture’s best-known stories. HOUSE OF DAVID gave the former Broadway performer his first major television role, and with it, a character audiences already knew long before they learned his name.
His career had already taken him to Broadway, where he made his debut in the musical Kimberly Akimbo. Moving from that stage to a biblical drama meant taking on a very different assignment: bringing a familiar shepherd, musician and future ruler to life.
But the interview with Rose also included a harder side of pursuing that calling. Recalling a painful stretch of personal trials and health struggles, Iskander described asking God why the experience had to hurt.
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“But if it’s got to be this way, I’ll go through it a hundred times over for you,” he said, recalling part of his prayer, a willingness to keep following God while he struggled.
His comments about identity fit a priority he had already described publicly. In a separate Associated Press interview published in October 2025, Iskander said his faith guides how he approaches his art and considers future roles.
“I don’t see why there should be a separation between art and faith,” he emphasized, describing playing David as an opportunity to worship through his work.
He also told AP that he wanted viewers to see the humanity of biblical figures rather than imagine them as impossibly distant. Their mistakes mattered to his portrayal, too; playing David meant exploring a complicated person, not presenting a flawless hero.
His work on the series also draws on his musical background. He told AP he sent the producers a sample of Hebrew-language music, and that collaboration led to Psalms appearing throughout the show.
The series keeps testing that character beyond his encounter with Goliath. Amazon MGM Studios’ Season 2 synopsis follows David into palace politics, family jealousy and a growing romance as he learns to lead.
That question of character runs back to David’s introduction in 1 Samuel 16: God directs the prophet Samuel’s attention to the heart rather than outward appearance. David is still tending sheep when Samuel asks for him.
Iskander isn’t rejecting the role that changed his career. Asked by AP whether he could accept audiences knowing him as David for the rest of his life, he welcomed the possibility.
“If I’m known as David, then that would be a blessing,” he said. He can embrace the name viewers remember while keeping his faith first.
Read Next: What Message Michael Iskander Says We Can Learn From King David
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