‘Jane The Virgin’ Star Gina Rodriguez On Playing The Virgin Mary

Gina Rodriguez is no stranger to playing virgins. She already plays the idealistic Jane Gloriana Villanueva in the hit CW show “Jane the Virgin,” and now, she’s going to voice the Virgin Mary for the animated Christmas film, “The Star.”

“The Star” is a film about the unrecognized heroes of the first Christmas, and Rodriguez said she’s thrilled to take part in it. “Prior to ‘Jane the Virgin,’ I always wanted to do animation. I do have a huskier voice … so it was nice to be able to play with it — to lighten it up for Mary,” she told PEOPLE.

“And also it’s the nativity story,” she continued. “I was raised on this story. I’ve known this story my whole life, and when somebody was like, ‘Do you want to play the Virgin Mary?’ I was like ‘Yeah.’”

When asked about the Virgin Mary and how she managed to “be so saintly,” Rodriguez said that she wasn’t really saintly at all. “[She] was a normal woman. She was the everyday woman. …That’s the whole thing,” she explained.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez’s small screen character, Jane, is acting less saintly as well this Season 4 now that her first love, Adam Alvaro (Tyler Posey) is teaching her how to loosen up and have some fun.

Posey told Vanity Fair that Adam is exactly the guy Jane needs in her life right now. “Adam’s a sweetheart. And he has everyone’s best interests in mind, and all he wants to do is kinda have fun and I think Jane kind of needs that in her life,” he said. “She needs somebody to rely on and just kind of get out of the dark place that she’s in. So I think Adam’s a very necessary character to kind of help Jane move on in a sense.”

But despite Jane’s new connection with Adam, show creator Jennie Snyder Urman told Deadline that fans shouldn’t be quick to dismiss Rafael Solano (Justin Baldoni) as a love interest. “You can’t rule out Jane and Rafael and their connection,” she said. You’ll have to watch and see… I will say there are some pretty romantic moments this season.”

“Jane the Virgin” Season 4 airs every Friday on The CW at 9 p.m. EDT.