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Breakout role as Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones, portrayal of Javier Peña in Narcos, and lead roles in The Mandalorian and The Last of Us.
Bio Dates and Places
Born Date: April 2, 1975.
Born Place: Santiago, Chile.
Career
Current occupation: Actor.
Previous Place of Work: HBO, Netflix, Disney+.
Achievements and Recognition
Awards: SAG Awards 2024 nomination for The Last of Us.
Education
New York University (BFA).
Main Milestones
Birth
April 2, 1975
Pedro Pascal was born in Santiago, Chile, to child psychologist Verónica Pascal Ureta and fertility doctor José Balmaceda Riera. His family had strong political connections, with his mother being a cousin of Andrés Pascal Allende, a nephew of socialist Chilean President Salvador Allende.
Political Asylum
1975 (9 months after birth)
Following his birth, Pascal's family sought refuge in the Venezuelan embassy in Santiago and later received political asylum in Denmark. They eventually moved to the United States, where Pascal was raised in San Antonio, Texas, and later in Orange County, California.
Graduation from Orange County School of the Arts
1993
Pascal pursued acting at the Orange County School of the Arts and graduated in 1993. This marked the beginning of his formal education in the arts.
Graduation from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts
1997
Pascal attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he graduated in 1997. This period further honed his acting skills and prepared him for a career in the entertainment industry.
The family later received political asylum in Denmark[12][13] before settling in the United States, where Pascal was raised in San Antonio, Texas,[14] until they relocated to Orange County, California, when he was 11 years old.[13] By the time he was eight years old, his family regularly visited Chile to see his 34 cousins.[15] His parents returned to Chile in 1995 after his father Dr. Jose P. Balmaceda was accused of stealing fertility patients' eggs and embryos and implanting them in other women without their knowledge and consent.[16]
He pursued acting at the Orange County School of the Arts and graduated in 1993, before attending New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he graduated in 1997.[13][17] After his mother's death, he began using her surname professionally as a tribute to her and because he felt that Americans had difficulty pronouncing his paternal surname, Balmaceda.[15]
"My vision of it was that if I didn't have some major exposure by the time I was twenty-nine years old, it was over, so I was constantly readjusting what it meant to commit my life to this profession, and giving up the idea of it looking like I thought it would when I was a kid. There were so many good reasons to let that delusion go."
–Pascal on his aspirations as an actor early in his career.[18]
Early in his career, Pascal appeared in several television series, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, NYPD Blue, The Good Wife, Nurse Jackie, and Homeland.[19] Pascal experienced hard times during that point in his career; besides working in small acting and theatre roles, he took jobs waiting at restaurants. Pascal admitted that he was fired "often, upwards of, I don't know, maybe close to 10 times".[20] In times of extreme hardship, Pascal's close friend Sarah Paulson would give him her per diem money "so that he could have money to feed himself."[18] At a point when he found difficulty in affording medical care, only having less than seven dollars in his bank account, he received a residual check from his role in Buffy, which helped him to restabilize his finances and allowed him to continue pursuing acting.[21]
In the 2015 movie Bloodsucking Bastards, Pascal portrayed the vampire Max.[40] In April 2015, Pascal co-starred with Heidi Klum in the music video for Sia's "Fire Meet Gasoline".[41] In August 2015, Pascal gained further recognition for his portrayal as Javier Peña, based on a real-life DEA agent, in the popular Netflix crime drama series Narcos. The show's two first seasons depict the rise and fall of the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar and the subsequent Medellín Cartel, as the show's focus shifted to the Cali Cartel for its third and final season, Pascal took on the role of both lead actor and narrator.[42][43]
In 2016, he portrayed mercenary Pero Tovar in the fantasy action film The Great Wall, alongside Matt Damon, and directed by Zhang Yimou.[44] Set against the backdrop of the iconic Great Wall of China, the film follows European mercenaries who become embroiled in a battle against ancient creatures threatening humanity. Despite the film's visually stunning production and ambitious scope, it received mixed reviews for its narrative and character development.[45] Filmed on location in Qingdao, China.[46] Pascal has voiced his admiration for Zhang, whom he had been a fan of during his youth.[47]
In 2017, Pascal portrayed the charismatic and skilled operative within the Statesman organization, Jack Daniels, also known as Agent Whiskey, in Matthew Vaughn's Kingsman: The Golden Circle.[48] Writing for Collider, Chris Sasaguay called his character "one cool cowboy", observing his "genuine love for getting into a cutthroat brawl", and praising the "playful side that comes so easily to Pascal [...] which isn't lost in playing Whiskey, turning him into a worthy new character to stand beside the Kingsman agents".[49]
In 2018, he starred as Dave York, the main antagonist, in Denzel Washington's thriller sequel film The Equalizer 2.[50] In Prospect, Pascal portrayed the character Ezra, a seasoned and enigmatic prospector navigating a dangerous alien moon in search of valuable resources. CNET's
Monisha Ravisetti was "delightfully surprised when Pedro Pascal showed up in a burnt orange spacesuit",[51] and Dais Johnston retroactively compared the role to Pascal's future characters in The Mandalorian and The Last of Us, writing for Inverse, "Pedro Pascal plays a gruff man who only looks out for himself until a child softens his heart".[52] In 2018's If Beale Street Could Talk, directed by Barry Jenkins and based on James Baldwin's novel, Pascal made a cameo appearance as Pietro Alvarez, a frivolous yet crucial character who ultimately reveals a compassionate and empathetic side.[53]
In February 2019, Pascal made his Broadway debut in an adaptation of King Lear with Glenda Jackson and Ruth Wilson, where he took on the role of Edmund, the cunning and ambitious illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester.[54][55] Since 2019, Pascal has portrayed the title role in The Mandalorian, the first live-action Star Wars television series, which debuted on Disney+, the show follows the adventures of a lone bounty hunter in the outer reaches of the galaxy.[56] The role brought Pascal much wider recognition, and would later help establish him for his portrayals of father figures.[57] The same year, he starred as Francisco "Catfish" Morales in the Netflix heist drama Triple Frontier,[58] in which he portrays a helicopter pilot.[59]
In early 2021, a video from a 2020 virtual play reading of I, My Ruination surfaced on multiple social media platforms of Pascal laughing hysterically then transitioning smoothly into crying.[66][67] The video quickly became an internet meme, often being paired with the Beach House song "Space Song" to display themes of tragedy on social media.[68][69]
In 2022, Pascal co-starred with Nicolas Cage in the action comedy film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. His performance was widely praised by critics.[70] A scene in which Pascal's character looks at a gruff and irritated Cage with a grin on his face while driving under the influence of LSD would spawn another internet meme on TikTok. It is commonly used humorously when two parties are in stark disagreement or conflict with each other over a topic in an exaggeratedly emotional fashion, and is paired with the 1969 Mama Cass song "Make Your Own Kind of Music".[71][72][73] Pascal also appeared in The Bubble, Judd Apatow's satirical comedy exploring celebrity culture amidst the pandemic.[74] Reviewing the film for The A.V. Club, Luke Y. Thompson called Pascal's character Dieter Bravo a "womanizer", and noted that the character's "fake 'ethnic' accent skewers what he likely has to endure regularly".[75] Shot during the COVID-19 pandemic, the film portrays the protocols adopted during filming due to the event as "purposely a little off-center".[76] He starred in Miu Miu's Women's Tales series short film, directed by Janicza Bravo, titled House Comes With a Bird.[77] In November, he signed with Creative Artists Agency.[78]
In 2023, Pascal starred in the HBO's highly anticipated television adaptation, The Last of Us, based on the critically acclaimed video game under the same title, created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann.[79] He took on the role of Joel Miller, a hardened survivor in a post-apocalyptic world, tasked with protecting a young girl named Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey. Pascal reportedly received $600,000 per episode.[80]Empire's John Nugent and /Film's Valerie Ettenhofer praised Pascal's performance as the best of his career, citing his ability to portray nuance and rare vulnerability.[81][82]Druckmann have called Ramsey and Pascal's chemistry as "a joy."[83] The characterization of the paternal dynamic in the role and the similarity of his character in The Mandalorian earned Pascal international recognition for portraying adoptive father figures.[57] This massive surge in popularity led him to become dubbed "daddy" in internet culture.[84] Around this time, Pascal became a prominent figure in meme culture, with several memes of him achieving viral status, including a meme from a clip of Pascal eating a sandwich during a guest episode of LADbible's "Snack Wars" YouTube series in which he appeared with The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau.[67][85] Several popular memes of Pascal were derived from The Last of Us episode "Kin", such as one from a scene where Joel is portrayed as having a panic attack,[86][87] and others relating to his character's tendency to lean on furniture throughout the episode due to being in a constant state of fear.[88]
Pascal is fluent in both English and Spanish. He developed a close friendship with actress Sarah Paulson soon after moving to New York City in 1993.[13][105] Pascal is also close friends with Oscar Isaac, as the two actors met while appearing in a 2005 Off-Broadway production of Beauty of the Father.[106][107] Isaac and Pascal would later appear together in the 2019 film Triple Frontier.[108] While filming The Last of Us, he got incredibly close to co-star, Bella Ramsey, calling himself and them as "linked souls."[109]
This is a community hub built on top of the Pedro Pascal Wikipedia article. Here, you can discuss, collect, and organize anything related to Pedro Pascal. The purpose of the hub is to connect people, foster deeper knowledge, and help improve the root Wikipedia article.
This is a community hub built on top of the Pedro Pascal Wikipedia article. Here, you can discuss, collect, and organize anything related to Pedro Pascal. The purpose of the hub is to connect people, foster deeper knowledge, and help improve the root Wikipedia article.