Jose’ Pedro Balmaceda Pascal professionally known as Pedro Pascal is a prominent Chilean-born American actor. He made his breakthrough by his role as Oberyn Martell in season four of Home Box Office fantasy series Game of Thrones (2014) and as Javier Pena in the Netflix crime series Narcos (2015-2017).
His adroitness in acting is clearly evident with his role as Joel Miller in Last of Us, a HBO drama series alone winning him a number of awards in 2023. He also got nominations for Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Awards. Pedro was as well named by Times magazine among the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023.
Age and Birthplace
The famed actor was born on 2 April 1975 in Santiago, Chile. He is 48 years old as of 2024.
Pedro Pascal Family
Pedro is the second-born in a four-children family of Jose’ Balmaceda Riera (Father) and Veronica Pascal Ureta (mother). Jose’ is a fertility doctor while Veronica who passed on 1999 was a a child psychologist.
After his mother’s demise, Pedro started using her surname professionally. This was as a tribute to her and also due to the fact that he felt Americans found it difficult to pronounce his Surname Balmaceda.
His siblings are; Javiera (older sister), Nicolas (younger brother) and Lux (younger sister) who is an actress.
Pedro Pascal Education
The celebrated actor studied acting at Orange County School of the Arts in California graduating in 1993. He would there after enroll at the New York University Tisch School of Arts for a Bachelor of Fine Arts and graduated in 1997.
Pedro Pascal Career
Pascal has vast experience in taking roles in both film and television having been in the industry for almost two decades. In early stages of his career, he was only limited to taking small roles in several television series such as The Good wife, Homeland and Graceland.
Pedro is also widely experienced as both an actor and director. He made his debut as director in 2008 with play Underneathmybed. Pascal has as well directed Killing Play and Yosemite at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Pedro is a member of the New York City’s LAByrith Theater Company.
He is a recipient of the Garland Award and Los Angeles Drama Critics Award following his role in the production of International City Theater, Orphans.
Breakthrough: 2014-2022
Pedro became famous in 2014 when he casted as Oberyn Martell in the fourth season of Games of Thrones, a HBO television series. He consequently received a nomination for Screen Actors Guild Awards; Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. He acquired more recognition in 2015 for his role as Javier Pena in Narcos, a well-known Netflix crime drama. Pascal starred in a fantasy action film The Great Wall in 2016 and Kingsman: The Golden Circle in 2017.
In 2018 , Pedro was cast in The Equalizer 2, Prospect and If Beale Street Could Talk. Prospect won him the Fargo Film Festival; Best Actor Award. The following year he debuted in Broadway while taking the role of Edmund in an adaptation of King Lear. He also starred in a Netflix heist drama Triple Frontier. He played the role of Maxwell Lord in the film Wonder Woman 1984 released ion December 2020. In 2022, Pascal starred in the following films: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, The Bubble, The House Comes With a Bird and Freaky Tales. His performances were generally praised.
International recognition: 2023-present
In 2023, Pedro casted in The Last of Us, a HBO television adaptation taking the role of Joel Miller. His performance was rated the best in his entire career and earned him worldwide recognition. It is worth mentioning that Pedro reportedly earned $600,000 per episode. He also won following awards: Imagen Foundation Awards; Best Actor in Drama, MTV Movie & TV Awards; Best Hero, People’s Choice Awards; The Male TV Star of the Year and Screen Actors Guild Awards; Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series.
In February 2023, he was host to a Saturday Night Live episode with the musical guest being Coldplay. It won him the Creative Arts TV Awards; Best Guest Actor in a Broadcast Network or Cable Series- Comedy. In May same year, he was cast in Gladiator 2 and in June named the receiver of the Great Immigrants Award.
Pedro became the first Latino in history to receive three nominations in one year for the Primetime Emmy Awards. The nominations are; Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series The Last of Us, Outstanding Narrator Life on the Edge of the World and Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series Saturday Night Live.
In February 2024, he starred in a Marvel Cinematic Universe film The Fantastic Four as Reed Richards.
Pedro Pascal Net Worth
The celebrated actor as an estimated net worth of $10 million as of 2024.