Hollywood Actress April Hernandez Castillo Embraces Identity In Christ, Tells Story In Memoir

After escaping a life of domestic violence and suicidal thoughts following an abortion, Hollywood actress April Hernandez Castillo said she ultimately reclaimed her voice and found forgiveness when she accepted her true identity in Jesus Christ.

Best known for her captivating role alongside Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank in the movie “Freedom Writers,” Hernandez Castillo is now telling her story in the memoir, Embracing Me.

The book came about after discussing a potential rewrite of her debut book, Your Voice, Your Choice (2015), with her publisher last year when COVID-19 lockdowns began.

“I figured, I think it’s time I fully embraced all of me, and now I’m ready to let the world know and not be ashamed of anything,” the author and public speaker told The Christian Post.

The 41-year-old New York native is bold about her passions and her faith and credits her personality to a combination of growing up in the Bronx and being a survivor of intimate partner violence. She knows what it’s like to have one’s voice silenced and then to get it back.

“So many women feel like what they have to say doesn’t matter,” she said. “But now you see this revolution of women happening … but I still know that there are thousands of women who struggle with understanding the power of their voice.”

Hernandez has starred in episodes of “Law and Order,” “Dexter” and “Person of Interest,” among other mainstream programs.

Hernandez Castillo would come to know Jesus while already a Hollywood actress but noted that God was always seeking her out.

“I grew up Catholic, but I’ve always known that God was calling me. I remember being a teenager walking through the streets, and I would hear a whisper, and it would just be my name. It would just say, ‘April.’ I didn’t really share it with anyone. … In hindsight now, I realized that God has always been calling me.” she detailed. “I just had to make that step and say, ‘OK, I’m going to accept You, and I don’t know what that looks like.’”

Hernandez Castillo embraced God and then came to realize that He had been with her “throughout everything.”

In her book Embracing Me, the actress shares past suicidal thoughts, the power of forgiveness and times she’s wrestled with her faith.