10 Unexpected Truths About Pedro Pascal

José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal, known professionally as Pedro Pascal, was born on April 2, 1975, in Santiago, Chile. He later relocated to San Antonio and then Orange County, California, where he pursued drama studies. Pascal began his career with guest appearances on popular series such as Law & Order, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and NYPD Blue. His breakthrough came with roles in Game of Thrones, Narcos, and later The Mandalorian and The Last of Us.

Pascal's immense popularity has inspired a podcast titled Podro Pascal, which focuses on his career and achievements. Below are 10 fascinating details about this versatile actor.

1. His family applied for political asylum.

Born in Chile in 1975 amidst Augusto Pinochet’s oppressive rule, Pascal’s parents opposed the dictatorship and were compelled to escape the nation. “Assisting individuals in hiding led to trouble—they ultimately sought refuge at the Venezuelan embassy,” Pascal shared with TIME. “We relocated to Denmark and later the U.S. While my sister and I were born in Chile and grew up in America, my younger brothers were born in the States but raised in Chile after our parents returned in 1995.”

2. He excelled as a competitive swimmer.

Prior to his acting career, Pascal was an avid swimmer, even participating in Texas state championships. “I’m too lazy to return to it now,” he admitted to Vanity Fair. “I stopped swimming when I was naturally hairless.”

3. His Instagram handle contains a typo.

Pascal’s Instagram username is Pascal Is Punk, though he intended it to be Pascal Is A Punk. During a Vanity Fair lie detector test, a reporter inquired if he viewed himself as a punk. “Absolutely,” he replied. “When I set up the account, I anticipated only 12 followers for life. I had no idea it would gain such traction, so I never bothered to correct it.” Today, he boasts over 7.9 million followers—far exceeding his initial expectation.

4. He adopted his mother’s surname as a tribute.

Pascal’s mother, Verónica Pascal Ureta, passed away in 1999 and never saw her son’s rise to fame. To honor her memory, he switched his professional surname from Balmaceda to Pascal. “She was always my biggest supporter, never pushy or overbearing,” he shared with People in 2020. “Everything I’ve achieved is because of her.”

5. His father refused to let him watch The Breakfast Club in theaters.

During an interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Pascal recalled how his father, at age 10, forbade him from watching The Breakfast Club (despite allowing him to see First Blood). His dad dismissed it as a film about “kids whining about their parents,” barring him from seeing it in theaters. “Like many of us, I was deeply influenced by John Hughes’ work at the time,” he explained. “Since The Breakfast Club was rated R, I had to wait until it was released on VHS.” Initially, his dad resisted renting it, but they eventually watched it when a babysitter wasn’t available.

6. He once worked as a waiter—and was awful at it.

In a conversation with Vanity Fair, Pascal reflected on his time as a waiter, admitting he was terrible at the job and nearly fired multiple times. “If I liked you, I was friendly; if not, I wasn’t,” he said. “That attitude didn’t exactly win over customers.” During his SNL hosting gig, he humorously portrayed an Italian waiter in a sketch.

7. He considers himself Nicolas Cage’s “biggest fan.”

In 2022, Pascal co-starred with Nic Cage in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Cage has been a major inspiration in Pascal’s career. “I’m his biggest fan,” Pascal revealed to Variety about the Con Air star. While eating spicy wings on Hot Ones, he listed Raising Arizona, Peggy Sue Got Married, Face/Off, and Moonstruck as his favorite Cage films.

“I have a special fondness for Moonstruck,” Pascal remarked. “His acting choices are incredibly smart and layered... It’s deeply rooted in the scene, yet carries a theatrical flair. He remains utterly convincing.” He also noted that Cage’s movies have “played a significant role in my growth as an aspiring actor and still resonate with me on a personal level.”

8. He doesn’t deliberately seek out father-figure roles.

In both The Last of Us and The Mandalorian, Pascal portrays characters who take on fatherly roles. Speaking to Radio Times, he clarified that he doesn’t intentionally choose such parts. “You walk through the doors that open for you,” he said. “The reluctant-father archetype has been a familiar theme in films and TV long before The Mandalorian. Maybe there’s something about me that fits these roles, but it’s not a conscious choice. Perhaps it stems from my protective nature—I’m fiercely protective of my loved ones. But I don’t have children of my own!”

9. He invented his own Satanic language.

Before gaining fame, Pascal played a goth character named Dio in a 2001 episode of NYPD Blue, complete with a Sharpie-drawn pentagram on his palm. During police questioning, he licked his palm and chanted in a made-up Satanic tongue. On Hot Ones, he shared how he asked the producers, “Do you have Latin lines for me to learn?” They replied, “No, just make it up,” so he created the language himself.

10. His all-time favorite song is Prince’s “Purple Rain.”

When Hot Ones host Sean Evans brought up that “Purple Rain” was the song Pascal wanted played at his funeral, the actor confirmed, “It’s my favorite. It’s profoundly moving. I didn’t grow up going to church—I was raised on HBO, Spielberg, and Prince. To me, ‘Purple Rain’ is the most emotionally powerful and musically intricate song I know. If it plays unexpectedly, I can’t handle it emotionally because it affects me so deeply.”