Like art imitating life, actor Stephen Collins portrayed a pedophile in his most recent movie.

Collins played a pedophile priest in a short independent movie entitled "Penance" which was screened at the Catalina Film Festival last September 27. A few days after the said film was shown at the festival, the 67-year old actor became the focus of a police investigation after a recording of an apparent therapy session had Collins confessing to molesting a number of minor girls on several occasions.

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As written in the website of "Penance", the 11-minute independent flick directed by Jeff Wolfe is about "one man's journey of forgiveness. David Lyons [Safe Haven, Revolution] plays Thomas Walker, a man hounded by personal demons and inner turmoil who has lived long enough with the scars of his past."

Collins plays the priest whom Walker visits and throughout the film, it is discovered that Walker's inner turmoil was caused by the said priest who molested him as a young boy. The movie revolves around the meaning of forgiveness.

The gossip website TMZ had obtained the audio recording of the actor's confession. He admitted to molesting several girls to his therapist and his former wife, actress Faye Grant. Grant and Collins are currently in the midst of divorce.

Since the recording was made public, Collins' career has been badly hit. He was removed from the cast of the sequel to the 2012 comedy "Ted" and, his recent appearance on the hit series "Scandal" has also been taken off the episode.

Reruns of his former series "7^th Heaven" has been removed from the air and E! News has also confirmed that the actor's talent agency has dropped him.

Agency of the Performing Arts, the agency that represented Collins for the last five years have announced, "We have cut ties with Mr. Collins."