Langi Tuifua
Langi Tuifua once had aspirations to play for the National Football League. He excelled in football and helped his team at Bingham High School win three state titles. He was highly recruited by college teams and landed at Brigham Young University as a defensive lineman.
Although he played for much of his freshman year in 2017, he privately suffered from a neck injury that left him with severe numbness and pain. Doctors diagnosed a herniated disc in his neck. After surgery to repair it, he spent a year recovering and training, but the pain and other effects of the injury caused him to fear further damage and possible paralysis. He retired from football in the spring of 2019.
- “It definitely was a hard time. Having to give it up was heavy,” he said. “During that time I was struggling with faith. I was having doubts and not feeling well mentally at all.”
- Spiritually, Tuifua said he had been less active in the Church for most of his life. He started to become active again as a junior and senior in high school because he wanted to play at BYU and liked its culture. Following his injury, he sought new direction from heaven.
- “I did pray to God asking for guidance,” Tuifua said. “I asked Him, ‘Where should I go from here?’ I started to follow all the ‘coincidences’ that God set up for me.”
Tuifua continued his studies at BYU, and although computer science opportunities came his way, one theater history class sent him in a different direction. He changed his major and started acting. The more he appeared in stage productions, the more he felt like he was headed in the right direction. After graduating in 2021, he appeared in a few television commercials and a Lifetime Christmas movie. He did voice work for a video game. Then a call came that surprised him. A casting director was interested in auditioning him for the role of Captain Moroni in the Book of Mormon Videos series produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- Those working with the Book of Mormon Videos series didn’t know the circumstances surrounding Tuifua’s football injury or his pivot to acting. All they saw was a muscular young man with a distinct look and emerging acting talent. They had been searching for a faithful person to play this special role and when he walked into the recreated Book of Mormon city of Zarahemla, clad in Nephite battle armor and raising the Title of Liberty, they knew he was right person to play the role, said Adam Anderegg, a director.
- “The Lord did provide,” Anderegg said. “You could see this was more than just experience, he has a gift for this. He has this crazy scar from the surgery that makes him look like a warrior. All of this hardship he went through really was perfect for the Captain Moroni side of the equation.”
- Anderegg continued: “When you see somebody who has goodness in their soul, it’s easy to see it and feel it, and you can’t fake that. You can’t just put makeup on it. He’s got light in his eyes, and that is the thing that is so cool about the fact that he came through the door and stepped into those shoes of Captain Moroni.”
- “If you think you have hit the end of your road or have to make a left turn, you might just lift your eyes up and realize there’s a group of people praying that you would show up,” the director said. “The Lord has a path for all of us. We get to have these challenges and crazy things happen to us, then we get to choose how to respond.”
- Tuifua learned a similar lesson.
- “You will think you are on this path to do one thing and all of the sudden, God tells you, ‘I know you like this, but my plan is for you to go do this thing,’” he said. “I hope that people understand that God puts you through these challenges to make you a stronger and more knowledgeable person.”
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