About[]
José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal (born 2 April 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 during the fourth season of the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones (2014) and Javier Peña in the Netflix crime series Narcos (2015–2017). Since 2019, he has starred as the title character in the Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandalorian and since 2023, he has played Joel in the HBO drama series The Last of Us. He also reprised his Mandalorian role in the spin-off series The Book of Boba Fett (2022).
Outside of television, Pascal has appeared in the films The Adjustment Bureau (2011), 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).
Early life[]
José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal was born in Santiago on 2 April 1975, the son of child psychologist Verónica Pascal Ureta and fertility doctor José Balmaceda Riera. 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. His mother was the cousin of Andrés Pascal Allende, the nephew of socialist Chilean President Salvador Allende (through his sister Laura). Andrés was an early leader of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left, an urban guerrilla movement dedicated to the overthrow of the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
According to Pascal, his parents were devout followers of Allende and active in resistance groups against the Pinochet dictatorship. Because of this, nine months after his birth, his family sought refuge in the Venezuelan embassy in Santiago, and were later granted political asylum in Denmark. The family ultimately moved to the United States, where Pascal was raised in Orange County, California and San Antonio, Texas. By the time he was eight, his family was able to take regular trips back to Chile to visit his 34 cousins.
Pascal was involved in competitive swimming during his early years and took part in the state championships in Texas at the age of 11, but stopped swimming competitively after getting into drama class. He studied acting at the Orange County School of the Arts, graduating in 1993 before moving on to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he graduated in 1997. His father was indicted by a federal grand jury in 1995 in relation to events at a fertility clinic he ran with two other men. His father, mother, and two youngest siblings thus returned to Chile; Pascal contends that his father did nothing wrong. His mother died by suicide in 1999. Following her death, he began using her surname professionally, both in honor of her and because he said Americans had difficulty pronouncing the surname Balmaceda.
Career[]
Pascal has appeared in several television series, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Good Wife, Homeland, The Mentalist, and Graceland. He appeared as kidnapper Reggie in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Weeping Willow" and appeared as Special Agent Greer in Law & Order: SVU episode "Smoked". He was cast in the pilot for the 2011 Wonder Woman television adaptation, but the show was never picked up. In June 2013, he was cast as Oberyn Martell in the fourth season of the HBO series Game of Thrones. Pascal stated that he was a huge fan of Game of Thrones before being cast as Oberyn and was ecstatic to join. In 2015, Pascal was cast in the role of U.S. DEA agent Javier Peña in the Netflix original show Narcos. In the movie Bloodsucking Bastards (2015), Pascal portrayed the vampire Max.
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. He has appeared Off-Broadway in Maple and Vine by Jordan Harrison, Beauty of the Father by Nilo Cruz, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's Based on a Totally True Story, Trista Baldwin's Sand, David Greenspan's Old Comedy, Terrence McNally's Some Men, and Shakespeare in the Park's 2006 production of Macbeth. He is a member of New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company. Pascal made his Broadway debut in February 2019 in an adaptation of King Lear with Glenda Jackson and Ruth Wilson.
In April 2015, Pascal co-starred with Heidi Klum in the music video for Sia's "Fire Meet Gasoline". In 2017, he starred as Agent Whiskey in Matthew Vaughn's Kingsman: The Golden Circle and as mercenary Pero Tovar in The Great Wall. In 2018, Pascal co-starred as Dave York, the primary antagonist in the thriller sequel film The Equalizer 2; the film starred Denzel Washington.
Since 2019, Pascal has portrayed the title role in The Mandalorian, the first live-action Star Wars television series, which debuted on Disney+. The same year, he starred as Francisco "Catfish" Morales in the Netflix heist drama Triple Frontier. He also played 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 February 2021, Pascal was cast in the Judd Apatow film The Bubble. The film premiered on Netflix on 1 April 2022. Pascal co-starred with Nicolas Cage in the comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent which premiered at SXSW 2022 in April. In February 2021, Pascal was cast in the lead role of Joel Miller for the HBO adaptation of The Last of Us. It was reported Pascal will receive $600,000 per episode. In November 2022, he was cast in Freaky Tales, to be directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.
Personal life[]
Pascal is fluent in both English and Spanish. He has lived in New York City since 1993. He is close friends with actress Sarah Paulson, having met her soon after moving to New York.
Pascal is an outspoken advocate of LGBTQ+ rights. He was supportive of his sister Lux Pascal when she came out as transgender, about which she 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 has referred to himself as an agnostic and a liberal. He endorsed Gabriel Boric in the 2021 Chilean presidential election.
Filmography[]
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Hermanas | Steve |
| 2008 | I Am That Girl | Noah |
| 2011 | The Adjustment Bureau | Maitre D’ Paul De Santo |
| Sweet Little Lies | Paulino | |
| 2015 | Bloodsucking Bastards | Max |
| Sweets | Twin Peter | |
| 2016 | The Great Wall | Pero Tovar |
| 2017 | Kingsman: The Golden Circle | Jack Daniels / Agent Whiskey |
| 2018 | Prospect | Ezra |
| The Equalizer 2 | Dave York | |
| If Beale Street Could Talk | Pietro Alvarez | |
| 2019 | Triple Frontier | Francisco 'Catfish' Morales |
| 2020 | Wonder Woman 1984 | Maxwell Lord |
| We Can Be Heroes | Marcus Moreno | |
| 2022 | The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent | Javi Gutierrez |
| The Bubble | Dieter Bravo | |
| 2023 | Strange Way of Life | Silva |
| TBA | Freaky Tales | |
| 2005 | Hermanas | Steve |
| 2008 | I Am That Girl | Noah |
| 2011 | The Adjustment Bureau | Maitre D’ Paul De Santo |
| Sweet Little Lies | Paulino | |
| 2015 | Bloodsucking Bastards | Max |
| Sweets | Twin Peter | |
| 2016 | The Great Wall | Pero Tovar |
| 2017 | Kingsman: The Golden Circle | Jack Daniels / Agent Whiskey |
| 2018 | Prospect | Ezra |
| The Equalizer 2 | Dave York | |
| If Beale Street Could Talk | Pietro Alvarez | |
| 2019 | Triple Frontier | Francisco 'Catfish' Morales |
| 2020 | Wonder Woman 1984 | Maxwell Lord |
| We Can Be Heroes | Marcus Moreno | |
| 2022 | The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent | Javi Gutierrez |
| The Bubble | Dieter Bravo | |
| 2023 | Strange Way of Life | Silva |
| TBA | Freaky Tales | |
| 1999 | Good vs. Evil | Gregor New |
| Undressed | Greg | |
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Eddie | |
| 2000 | Touched by an Angel | Ricky |
| 2001 | NYPD Blue | Shane 'Dio' Morrissey |
| Earth vs. the Spider | Goth Guy | |
| 2006 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Reggie Luckman |
| Without a Trace | Kyle Wilson | |
| 2008 | Law & Order | Tito Cabassa |
| 2009 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Kevin 'Kip' Green |
| 2009–2011 | The Good Wife | Nathan Landry |
| 2010 | Nurse Jackie | Steve |
| 2011 | Lights Out | Omar Assarian |
| Brothers & Sisters | Zach Wellison | |
| Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Special Agent Greer | |
| Charlie's Angels | Frederick Mercer | |
| Wonder Woman | Ed Indelicato | |
| Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe | Comandante Veracruz | |
| 2012 | Body of Proof | Zack Goffman |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Kyle Hartley | |
| 2013 | Nikita | Liam |
| Red Widow | Jay Castillo | |
| Homeland | David Portillo | |
| The Sixth Gun | Special Agent Ortega | |
| 2013–2014 | Graceland | Juan Badillo |
| 2014 | The Mentalist | Marcus Pike |
| Exposed | Oscar Castro Vargas | |
| Game of Thrones | Oberyn Martell | |
| 2015–2017 | Narcos | Javier Peña |
| 2019–present | The Mandalorian | The Mandalorian / Din Djarin |
| 2020 | Home Movie: The Princess Bride | Inigo Montoya |
| 2021 | Calls | Pedro |
| 2022 | The Book of Boba Fett | The Mandalorian / Din Djarin |
| 2023–present | The Last of Us | Joel Miller |
| 2023 | Saturday Night Live | Himself (host) |
| TBA | My Dentist's Murder Trial | TBA |