Pedro Pascal

José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal (born 2 April 1975) is a Chilean and American actor. He began his career guest-starring on various television shows before rising to prominence for portraying Oberyn Martell on the fourth season of the HBO fantasy series ''Game of Thrones'' (2014) and Javier Peña on the Netflix biographic crime series ''Narcos'' (2015–2017). He has played the title character on the Disney+ ''Star Wars'' series '' The Mandalorian'' since 2019, reprising his role in the spin-off series '' The Book of Boba Fett''. He is also set to play the lead role of Joel in ''The Last of Us''. Outside of television, he has appeared in the films '' The Adjustment Bureau'' (2011), ''Bloodsucking Bastards'' (2015), '' The Great Wall'' (2016), '' Kingsman: The Golden Circle'' (2017), '' The Equalizer 2'' (2018), ''Triple Frontier'' (2019), '' Wonder Woman 1984'' (2020) and '' The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent'' (2022).

Early life and education

José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal was born in Santiago, Chile on 2 April 1975. His mother, Verónica Pascal Ureta, was a child psychologist and his father, José Balmaceda, is a fertility doctor; he has an older sister, Javiera, and two younger siblings, Nicolás, and Lux Pascal, an actress and transgender activist in Chile. Pascal's mother was the cousin of Andrés Pascal Allende, the nephew of socialist President Salvador Allende (through his sister Laura) and leader of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left, an urban guerrilla movement dedicated to the overthrow of the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

According to Pascal, his parents were devout followers of Allende and active in resistance groups against the Pinochet dictatorship.Pascal, Pedro. (25 May 2014). Reddit
I am actor Pedro Pascal. I play Oberyn in Game of Thrones, Ask me anything.
Because of this, nine months after his birth, Pascal's family sought refuge in the Venezuelan Embassy in Santiago, and were later granted political asylum in Denmark. The family ultimately moved to the United States, and Pascal was raised in Orange County, California and San Antonio, Texas. By the time he was 8, his family was able to take regular trips back to Chile to visit his 34 first cousins. Pascal was involved in competitive swimming during his early years and took part in the state championships in Texas at the age of 11, but stopped competitive swimming after getting into drama class. He studied acting at the Orange County School of the Arts, graduating in 1993, and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in 1997.

Career

Pascal has appeared in several television series, including ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', '' The Good Wife'', '' Homeland'', '' The Mentalist'', and '' Graceland''. He appeared as kidnapper Reggie in the '' Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' episode "Weeping Willow" and appeared as Special Agent Greer in '' Law & Order: SVU'' episode "Smoked". He was cast in the pilot for the 2011 ''Wonder Woman'' television adaptation, but the show was never picked up. In June 2013, he was cast as Oberyn Martell in the fourth season of the HBO series ''Game of Thrones''. Pascal stated that he was a huge fan of ''Game of Thrones'' before being cast as Oberyn and was ecstatic to join. In 2015, Pascal was cast in the role of U.S. DEA agent Javier Peña in the Netflix original show ''Narcos''. In the movie ''Bloodsucking Bastards'' (2015), Pascal portrayed the vampire Max.

Pascal has extensive stage experience as both an actor and director; he received the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award and Garland Award for his role in the International City Theater production of ''Orphans'', and has performed in classical and contemporary works. He has appeared Off-Broadway in ''Maple and Vine'' by Jordan Harrison, ''Beauty of the Father'' by Nilo Cruz, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's ''Based on a Totally True Story'', Trista Baldwin's ''Sand'', David Greenspan's ''Old Comedy'', Terrence McNally's ''Some Men'', and Shakespeare in the Park's 2006 production of ''Macbeth''. He is a member of New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company. Pascal made his Broadway debut in February 2019 in an adaptation of ''King Lear'' with Glenda Jackson and Ruth Wilson.

In April 2015, Pascal co-starred with Heidi Klum in the music video for Sia's " Fire Meet Gasoline". In 2017, he starred as Agent Whiskey in Matthew Vaughn's '' Kingsman: The Golden Circle'' and as mercenary Pero Tovar in '' The Great Wall''. In 2018, Pascal co-starred as Dave York, the primary antagonist in the thriller sequel film '' The Equalizer 2''; the film starred Denzel Washington.

Since 2019, Pascal has portrayed the title role in '' The Mandalorian'', the first live-action ''Star Wars'' television series, which debuted on Disney+. The same year, he starred as Francisco "Catfish" Morales in the Netflix heist drama ''Triple Frontier''. He also played Maxwell Lord in the DC Extended Universe film '' Wonder Woman 1984'', directed by Patty Jenkins. Following delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was released to theaters and HBO Max on 25 December 2020.

In February 2021, Pascal was cast in the Judd Apatow film '' The Bubble''. The film premiered on Netflix on 1 April 2022. Pascal co-starred with Nicolas Cage in the comedy '' The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent'' which premiered at SXSW 2022 in April. In February 2021, Pascal was cast in the lead role of Joel Miller for the upcoming HBO adaptation of ''The Last of Us''. It was reported Pascal will receive $600,000 per episode. In November 2022, he was cast in ''Freaky Tales'', to be directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.

Personal life

Pascal is bilingual in English and Spanish.

Pascal moved to New York City in 1993 and has lived there since. In 1995, while Pascal was at NYU, his father was indicted by a federal grand jury relating to events at a fertility clinic he ran with two other men. Following this, his father, mother and two youngest siblings returned to Chile; Pascal contends that his father did nothing wrong.

Pascal's mother committed suicide in 1999. Following her death, Pascal began using his mother's surname professionally both in honor of her and because he said Americans had difficulty pronouncing his first surname, Balmaceda.

Pascal is an outspoken advocate of LGBTQ+ rights. He was supportive of his sister Lux when she came out as transgender; she said: “He has been an important part of this. He is also an artist and has been a guide. He was one of the first to give me the things that formed my identity."

He is close friends with Sarah Paulson and Oscar Isaac. He endorsed Chilean President Gabriel Boric in the 2021 Chilean presidential election. Pascal has said that he is agnostic, and a liberal.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Video games

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pascal, Pedro
1975 births
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
Allende family
American agnostics
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
American male voice actors
American people of Chilean descent
American people of Basque descent
Chilean emigrants to the United States
Chilean agnostics
Hispanic and Latino American male actors
Living people
Male actors from Orange County, California
Male actors from San Antonio
Male actors from Santiago
Orange County School of the Arts alumni
Tisch School of the Arts alumni