Kevin Costner is known for portraying rugged heroes and resilient leaders on screen, but in a recent interview, the award-winning actor made clear that the strength guiding his life off camera is rooted in faith. As personal and professional storms have collided in recent years, Costner says belief has remained the steady force that carries him forward.
Speaking about his faith journey, Costner reflected on how it was shaped early and sustained through adversity, as reported by USA Today.
Raised in a church-centered home, he described faith not as a cultural accessory but as a lived reality that formed his worldview long before Hollywood success followed. “Our friends came from the church,” Costner said. “The church was central in our lives.” He added that the spiritual lessons passed down through generations still anchor him today.
That foundation came alive again while working on ABC’s two-hour special, Kevin Costner Presents: The First Christmas, which explores the Nativity story alongside historical and theological context. “We all think we know [the story],” Costner said. “We all wait for this time of year and then we get mad at it, too, because now it’s ‘so much stuff I have to do, and I hate this.’ It’s ‘too many people are coming to the house.’ There’s this other story that changed the world, a lot of the world.”
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Costner said participating in the project brought him genuine joy, even as he anticipated skepticism. “I was proud to be able to do it,” he said. “I’m sure I’m going to confront the cynics and the nonbelievers, who I invite them to sit down, too, and they can feel how they feel. But I was really happy. This gave me pleasure to do it.”
Costner also spoke openly about the sustaining power of faith during hardship. In recent years, he has navigated a high-profile divorce and mounting challenges surrounding the financing and release of his ambitious film series, Horizon: An American Saga.
Through it all, he says belief has kept him grounded. “We can’t always explain what moves us or what gives us this kind of determination or this faith that we will come out of this dark spot,” Costner said. “We can’t. We just choose to believe, and it’s something that has really sustained me.”
At the heart of Costner’s reflections is an honest acknowledgment that faith does not remove struggle but gives meaning within it. In a candid moment, he summed up what perseverance looks like when belief meets reality:
“I have had tremendous ups, and I have been bruised equally,” Costner said. “I’ve had things said about me that I know, you know − but I have to endure them. And so, how do I choose to live my life, in anger or in faith that things will reveal themselves in the right way? And so I’ve just chosen to do that. But being a human, you keep thinking to God, ‘You need to hurry up, God. Listen, I’ve been praying for this for a long time. You got to pick it up a little bit.’ But we live with faith, so we’re going to be tested. It’s just we’re tested all the time.”
Faith is not a slogan or seasonal sentiment. It is a daily decision to trust, endure and believe that even in testing, purpose is being formed.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a background in journalism from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine.
