Birthdate: Apr 2, 1975
Birthplace: Santiago de Chile, Metropolitan Region, Chile
Pedro Pascal (birthname: Jose Pedro Balmaceda Pascal) appears on the cusp of stardom after a long and notable run as a serious stage actor and reliable, rangy supporting actor in major film and TV work as Zhang Yimou’s The Great Wall (2016) with Matt Damon, Willem Dafoe, and Andy Lau; Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017); Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk (2018); Antoine Fuqua’s The Equalizer 2 (2018, in which he was Denzel Washington’s arch nemesis); Netflix’s Triple Frontier (2019) with Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, and Garrett Hedlund; and Judd Apatow’s The Bubble (2022). Pascal’s busy 2022 includes his co-starring role with Nicolas Cage in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.
Pedro Pascal’s feature debut was in Julia Solomonoff’s Argentinian drama, Hermanas (2005), in which his on-screen credit was his family name Pedro Balmaceda. He appeared in the 2014 season of HBO’s epic series, Games of Thrones as Oberyn Martell, for which he received a shared SAG nomination for Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series. On the acclaim he earned for his powerful portrayal of DEA agent Javier in Netflix’s hit series, Narcos (2015-2017), Pedro Pascal earned his first feature starring role in the science fiction thriller, Prospect (2018) with Sophie Thatcher and Jay Duplass.
His robust theatre career includes originating roles for The Manhattan Theater Club, Classic Stage Company, Playwrights Horizons, and Second Stage in New York. Pascal has dipped into the world of superheroes, as in Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984 with Chris Pine and Kristin Wiig, and Robert Rodriguez’s Netflix family movie, We Can Be Heroes, both in 2020. These credits set up Pedro Pascal for the high-profile spot as the title character in the first Star Wars offshoot for Disney +, The Mandalorian (2019-2022) as well as The Book of Boba Fett (2022). He’s slated to star with Willem Dafoe and Morena Baccarin in Barry Gifford’s Tropico (no date set).
Born in the Chilean capital of Santiago to parents Veronica Pascal and José Pedro Balmaceda Riera, Pedro Pascal moved to San Antonio, Texas in his early childhood due to his parent’s opposition to the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. His mother was a cousin to Andrés Pascal Allende, the nephew of Chilean Pres. Salvador Allende a leader in the Movement of the Revolutionary Left organized to overthrow Pinochet’s regime.
Pedro Pascal grew up in San Antonio, Texas, and Orange County, California. His siblings are Nicolás Balmaceda, actor Lux Pascal, and Javiera Balmaceda. By the time Pascal was eight years old, his family visited Chile more regularly but kept their U.S. residency. He attended the Orange County School of the Arts and graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. His height is 5’ 10 ½”.
Nominee, Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, Screen Actors Guild Awards (2015).
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Twist of Fate: Pedro Pascal could easily have grown up Danish, since his family, fleeing the Pinochet dictatorship, received asylum status in Denmark. The family opted to move to the United States instead, despite the fact the U.S. had backed Pinochet’s coup against elected Pres. Salvador Allende.
The Swimmer: Pascal was a competitive swimmer and reached the Texas state championships, but later quit to devote his energies to acting training.
Man of the Theater: Pedro Pascal, a member of the Labyrinth Theater Company, played with Glenda Jackson in the 2019 Broadway revival of King Lear; with Liev Schreiber in Shakespeare in the Park’s production of Macbeth; and has directed many stage productions, including Florencia Lozano’s Underneathmybed, David Anzuelo’s Killing Play, and Daniel Talbott’s Yosemite. He has also won a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for International City Theatre’s production of Orphans.