The Internet daddy and the hero of memes. 5 facts about actor Pedro Pascal

One of the most popular media stars these days is actor Pedro Pascal. He stars in the highest-rated TV series, regularly becomes the hero of memes and conquers Hollywood. At the same time, fame overtook him only at the age of 39, when he appeared in Game of Thrones. What is interesting about the biography of the audience's beloved "daddy" is in the Izvestia material.

Fact 1. The family fled from Pinochet

• Pedro Pascal was born in Chile in 1975 in the family of a doctor and a child psychologist. His mother Veronica, whose last name the actor bears, was a cousin of one of the leaders of the leftist movement of Chile, Andres Pascal. He, in turn, was the nephew of President Salvador Allende, who was overthrown in 1973 by the junta led by Augusto Pinochet.

Pascal's family supported Allende and risked reprisals after the coup. When Pedro was four months old, his parents fled to avoid arrest, and six months later they managed to enter the territory of the Venezuelan embassy. Eventually, they received political asylum in Denmark, and then settled in the United States. When the situation in Chile softened, the actor's family was able to visit their native country, but continued to live in California, where trips to the cinema became a favorite pastime for parents and children.

Fact 2. He became famous late

• Pascal studied acting in 1997 and could not succeed in this field for a long time. Because of his Latin American appearance, he often got the same type of roles of criminals on television, sometimes even being content with episodic participation. He starred in such TV series as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Good Wife, and The Mentalist, but they did not bring him fame. His acting career, which he combined with working as a waiter, almost ended when in 2011 he starred in the pilot episode of the TV series Wonder Woman, which eventually did not go into production.

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• A year before his 40th birthday, Pascal made a breakthrough with his role as Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones. Then the audience appreciated his image of a brutal, but at the same time sensual hero, to which he later often resorted. The actor was so happy with the fame that had overtaken him that he even allowed fans to press their thumbs on their eyes in joint photos, reproducing the death scene of Martell. As a result, one day it led to an eye infection.

Fact 3. He became a "TV daddy"

• After Game of Thrones, Pascal starred in several more successful TV series that made him a television star. He played the main roles in the TV series "Mandalorian", "Narco", "Some of us" (based on the video game The Last Of Us). One of the creators of the latter, Craig Mazin, said that during the casting in Pascal they saw an incredible combination of old-fashioned masculinity and the appearance of a tough guy, but at the same time there was pain and vulnerability in his eyes.

Pascal's work was united by the fact that he often appeared in the image of charismatic and caring fathers. This led to the fact that the 50-year-old actor was called daddy on the Internet. Pascal himself knows about this nickname and is not against its use, because it reflects his state of mind. At the same time, the actor has no children of his own.

Fact 4. He became the hero of memes

• Pascal's appearance in public often gets into trends and leads to the appearance of memes, which make the actor even more popular. So, one day he took part in the culinary program "Snack Wars", in which celebrities eat snacks from different countries and share their impressions. Pascal tried an American sandwich with peanut butter and jelly and literally "hung up" for a second. The ticktockers really liked this moment, they began to use it to illustrate situations when there is a fuss going on around that does not concern you.

• In 2022, the film "The Unbearable Weight of a Huge Talent" was released. In one of the scenes of the film, Pascal and another "meme" actor— Nicolas Cage— are driving in a car. First, the camera shows an upset Cage, and then it is directed at Pascal — his hero, on the contrary, looks very pleased, even enthusiastic, and smiles broadly. Due to the contrast of emotions, this episode broke onto YouTube and Reddit.

• The first popular meme with Pascal appeared back in 2020. The actor conducted an online reading of the play "I, My Destruction," and at one point he went from hysterical laughter to crying in a few seconds. This moment was viral on TikTok and the very first video with it scored more than 2.5 million views.

Fact 5. Conquers cinema

• Although Pascal has already conquered television and the Internet, he has yet to become a full-fledged big movie star. On the wave of popularity after the release of "Game of Thrones", he starred in such action films as "The Great Wall", "Kingsman: The Golden Ring" and "The Great Equalizer 2", but they did not become big hits.

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In the near future, Pascal will have another chance to conquer Hollywood. His recent works include the voiceover of the animated film "Wild Robot", roles in "Gladiator II" and "The Materialist", and soon the space western "Mandalorian and Grogu", the superhero "Fantastic Four: First Steps" with two more sequels and the experimental western "Eddington" will be released.