Casting Jesus: A look at actors who have played the Son of God in movies

Casting Jesus for the silver screen has always been tricky. Directors must balance the actor's ability to project a sense of both divinity and humanity. They also need to sell tickets, and thus have often cast handsome, leading-man types.

In the new movie Son of God, Jesus is played by Portuguese actor Diogo Morgado, whose appearance has been compared to Brad Pitt and a young Marlon Brando, and who has inspired a Twitter hashtag of Hot Jesus.

Diogo Morgado in a scene from then movie Son of God. (AP photo)

Box office is booming: Son of God, which was made from footage shot for the History channel miniseries The Bible, came in a close second last weekend to the latest Liam Neeson action blockbuster, and beat out the popular Lego movie.

HB Warner, Willem Dafoe and Jim Caviezel essaying the role of Jesus Christ. (AP file photo)