Pedro Pascal

José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal (Spanish pronunciation: [xoˈse ˈpeðɾo βalmaˈseða pasˈkal]; born April 2, 1975) is a Chilean and American actor. After nearly two decades of taking small roles in film and television, Pascal rose to prominence for portraying Oberyn Martell in the fourth season of the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones (2014) and Javier Peña in the Netflix crime series Narcos (2015–2017). He went on to appear in the films 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).

Since 2019, Pascal has starred as the title character in the Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandalorian and again in The Book of Boba Fett (2022). Since 2023, he has played Joel Miller in the HBO drama series The Last of Us, for which he received a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023.

José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal was born on April 2, 1975, in Santiago, Chile to child psychologist Verónica Pascal Ureta and fertility doctor José Balmaceda Riera. His paternal grandmother was born in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. He has an older sister named Javiera, a younger brother named Nicolás, and a younger sister named Lux, who is an actress and transgender activist. Pascal's mother was the cousin of Andrés Pascal Allende, the nephew of socialist Chilean President Salvador Allende (through his sister Laura). Pascal Allende was an early leader of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left, a militant far-left organization.

Nine months after his birth, his family sought refuge in the Venezuelan embassy in Santiago, and later received political asylum in Denmark. Ultimately, the family moved to the United States, where Pascal was raised in San Antonio, Texas, until they relocated to Orange County, California, when he was 11 years old. By the time he was eight years old, his family regularly visited Chile to see his 34 cousins.

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. In 1995, his father was indicted by a federal grand jury for his involvement in events at a fertility clinic he ran with two others. Following this, Pascal's parents and two youngest siblings returned to Chile. Pascal maintains that his father did nothing wrong. His mother died by suicide in 1999. After her death, he began using her surname professionally as a tribute to her and because he felt that Americans had difficulty pronouncing his original surname, Balmaceda.

1999–2013: Early work

Pascal has appeared in several television series, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Good Wife, Homeland, The Mentalist, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Graceland. He was cast in the pilot for the 2011 Wonder Woman television adaptation, but the show was not picked up.

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. In 2010, he wrote a play, directed by Sarah Silverman, Flaca Loves Bone, about four siblings who meet in a snowy wood to uncover a family secret. He made his directorial debut with play underneathmybed in 2008. He also directed Yosemite and Killing Play at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. He is a member of New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company.

2014–2018: Breakthrough

In 2014, Pascal portrayed the character Oberyn Martell in the fourth season of the HBO's critically acclaimed television series Game of Thrones. The season aired from April 6 to June 15, 2014, and Pascal's performance as the passionate and vengeful Prince of Dorne garnered significant praise from both critics and audiences. Pascal stated that he was a huge fan of Game of Thrones before being cast as Oberyn and was ecstatic to join. As part of the ensemble, he has received a Screen Actors Guild Awards nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

In the 2015 movie, Bloodsucking Bastards, Pascal portrayed the vampire Max. In April 2015, Pascal co-starred with Heidi Klum in the music video for Sia's "Fire Meet Gasoline". 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. In 2017, 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.

In 2017, he starred as Agent Whiskey in Matthew Vaughn's Kingsman: The Golden Circle and as mercenary Pero Tovar in The Great Wall, alongside Matt Damon.

In 2018, Pascal co-starred as Dave York, the main antagonist, in Denzel Washington's thriller sequel film The Equalizer 2.

2019–present: Worldwide recognition

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. 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. The same year, he starred as Francisco "Catfish" Morales in the Netflix heist drama Triple Frontier.

He portrayed 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 2022, Pascal co-starred with Nicolas Cage in the action comedy film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. His performance was widely praised by the critics. Pascal also appeared in The Bubble, Judd Apatow's satirical comedy exploring celebrity culture amidst the pandemic. He starred in Miu Miu's Women's Tales' series short film, directed by Janicza Bravo, titled House Comes With a Bird. In November 2022, he was cast in Freaky Tales, directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.

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. 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. 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. In February, he hosted a Saturday Night Live episode, with Coldplay as the musical guest. In April, he was added to the cast of Ethan Coen's Drive-Away Dolls. In May, he co-starred in the short film Strange Way of Life alongside Ethan Hawke, directed by Pedro Almodóvar, whom Pascal has previously expressed his admiration for and desire to work with. In May, Pascal was cast in an upcoming sequel of Ridley Scott's Gladiator. In July, Pascal made history as the second Latino actor to be nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series since 1999, at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, for his portrayal in The Last of Us. He also received nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, for his guest-hosting role in a 2023 episode of Saturday Night Live, and Outstanding Narrator, for his narration in 2022's Patagonia: Life on the Edge of the World.

Pascal is fluent in both English and Spanish and has been a resident of New York City since 1993. He developed a close friendship with actress Sarah Paulson soon after moving there.

Pascal is an advocate of LGBTQ+ rights and was supportive of his sister Lux Pascal when she came out as transgender. Lux 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."

Pascal identifies as an agnostic and a progressive liberal. He endorsed leftist Gabriel Boric in the 2021 Chilean presidential election.

Film

Television

Theatre

Music videos

Video games