Disney star David Henrie reveals losing role to Liam Hemsworth made him turn to God
They say hindsight is a wonderful thing, and that seems to be one phrase David Henrie can relate to.
Henrie is best known for playing Justin Russo on Wizards of Waverly Place on Disney Channel, but he could have also been known as Gale Hawthorne in The Hunger Games.
What many people didn't know until recently is that Henrie was up against Liam Hemsworth for the part next to Jennifer Lawrence, but ultimately the Aussie actor was given the job.
Speaking on the Lila Rose Show, Henrie divuldged: "It was down to me and Liam Hemsworth for the role in The Hunger Games.
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"I had a great audition and we negotiated the contracts. A three-picture deal, millions of dollars. I really wanted the role. But Liam got it."
While he will have be understandably disappointed at the time, the 37-year-old now brands him losing out on the part of Gale as 'the best thing in the world'.
As a result of him not being part of The Hunger Games, he ended up being in 2015's Little Boy. During filming, Henrie says he was invited to so-called 'philosophy nights' where he and his fellow cast mates would ponder questions about the universe.
After they all had 'many conversations', it made Henrie really question why the universe was created – and he found the answer to that was God.
"It all clicked and I radically changed the way that I live," the actor said about the time he found himself being drawn back to Catholicism, having been born and raised in the Church.
"I’m not going to date another girl until I meet my wife. And I’m gonna know this is the right person and I’m going to pursue that completely," he went on say about his frame of mind at the time.
Henrie ended up meeting his now-wife, Maria Cahill, through an archbishop after starting his journey in faith. They share four children together; Pia, seven, James, five, Gemma, four, and newborn son Peter.
It hasn't all been positive when it comes to Henrie's faith however; earlier this year he said his religion drastically changed how Hollywood saw him, as well as those he was close to.
"It was rough, lost my agents," he said on the Bryce Crawford Podcast in September. "I walked away from a lot. I turned down a lot of roles. I was like I'm just not going to do something that I think will disrespect my belief now or disrespect our Lord."
He continued: "I lost a lot of money. Friends, a girlfriend at the time. I kind of was stripped of everyone, everyone that I would call a friend."
But he managed to find new friends. Henrie shared: "I found guys I respected, guys I loved, that were building me up in Christ.
"You know, I think that friendship is like an elevator. It brings you up or it brings you down. So, I made new friends and I made friends that elevated me and that challenged me, gave me great books to read and helped form me in my faith and led to meeting my wife, my best friend now."
Topics: Entertainment, Hollywood, Religion, News, Celebrity
Niamh Shackleton
