Pedro Pascal

Biography of Pedro Pascal

Pedro Pascal is a Chilean-American actor born on April 2, 1975 in Santiago, Chile. He is best known for his roles as Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones and Javier Peña in Narcos. His family fled Chile and sought refuge in Denmark during Pinochet’s dictatorship. After settling in the United States, Pascal trained as an actor. He began his acting career in the 1990s, appearing in Burning Bridges, Undressed, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He later worked on The Good Wife, Lights Out, and The Mentalist. On the big screen, he can be seen in The Adjustment Bureau (2011), Bloodsucking Bastards (2015), and The Equalizer 2 (2018).

 

Early Years

Pedro Pascal was born in Santiago, Chile on April 2, 1975. He is the son of Verónica Pascal and José Balmaceda Riera. After his birth, his family decided to leave Chile and seek political asylum in Denmark, as they were supporters of Salvador Allende and opposed to the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. A few months later, they moved to the United States. He was raised in the company of his brother, also an actor, Lucas Balmaceda. He lived in San Antonio until the age of 11, then moved to Orange County, California. He has been living in New York since 1993.

In his early years, he was interested in swimming and participated in several state championships. After leaving the sport, he focused on acting. He studied acting at Orange County High School of the Arts and at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. During that time, he worked as a waiter and took his first steps in theater.

 

Career of Pedro Pascal

After working in theater for several years, Pedro Pascal made his television debut in the late 90s, appearing in the series G vs E, Downtown, Undressed, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Later, he acted in NYPD Blue (2001), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2006 and 2009), and Nurse Jackie (2010). In film, he starred in Hermanas (2005) and I Am That Girl (2008). Like other Latino actors, he went unnoticed for several years, typecast in certain roles.

His first recurring role came in 2009, in The Good Wife, where he played the role of assistant lawyer Nathan Landry for two years. He then played Omar Assarian in Lights Out (2011), a series that was starred by Holt McCallany. The same year he also played a role in The Adjustment Bureau (2011) with Matt Damon and Emily Blunt.

Later on, he could be seen in Brothers & Sisters, Body of Proof, Nikita, Red Widow, and Homeland. Finally, in 2014, he achieved fame by playing Oberyn Martell, “the Red Viper,” in Game of Thrones, the HBO series where he shared credits with Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, and Natalie Dormer, among others. During that same period, he played Agent Juan Badillo in Graceland and Marcus Pike in The Mentalist.

Pedro Pascal played DEA Agent Javier Peña in the Netflix series Narcos (2015-17), which focused on the life of drug lord Pablo Escobar and the Colombian cartels. He also appeared in Bloodsucking Bastards (2015), alongside Fran Kranz; The Great Wall (2016), with Matt Damon; and Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), with Colin Firth.

In 2018, he starred in Prospect with Sophie Thatcher, and The Equalizer 2 with Denzel Washington. Currently, he stars in The Mandalorian (2019), a Star Wars prequel series that revolves around the adventures of a lone hunter known as the Mandalorian. The series also features Gina Carano, Nick Nolte, Giancarlo Esposito, and Emily Swallow.

 

The Last Of Us

On January 16, 2023, HBO will release the television series “The Last of Us,” based on the video game of the same name, in which Pedro Pascal plays the role of Joel Miller. This will become one of the most successful works for the actor, as according to some critics, it would be one of the best video game adaptations in history.