The death of the “love of his life” hit Pedro Pascal forever

The Chilean actor Pedro Pascal has found success on the small screen with appearances on shows like Narcos, The Mandalorian and most recently The Last of Us. However, behind his rising star lies a painful story: the fact that his mother did not live to see his success.

Pascal is the son of Verónica Pascal, a child psychologist, and José Balmaceda, a fertility doctor. His parents had to flee Chile because they were part of the opposition movement against Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship. Verónica Pascal was the niece of Andrés Pascal Allende, leader of the country’s Revolutionary Left and nephew of Salvador Allende.

When he was 9 months old, his family fled to Denmark and later to San Antonio, Texas. “They offered us political asylum in Denmark and shortly afterwards they got a job offer in the US. For this reason, this opportunity, I grew up here. That is the power of our culture. People from all over the world come to this country to offer their skills,” he says said EFE regarding his experience.

In conversation with People In 2020, he said he used to fight a lot with his parents as a child. “I’m a little hard on myself, but that would have been about eight years since they ran for their lives,” he said. “I was so well taken care of and shielded from.”

His family moved to California when he was 11 years old. It was at this point that acting caught his attention and he began taking classes at Orange County School of the Arts. In 1993 he did enrolled at New York University‘s Tisch School of the Arts.

During his studies, his father is said to have been involved in a scandal with the fertility clinic he ran according to Telemundobrought him back to Chile with his wife and two youngest children.

The tragic death of his mother

In 2000, when Pedro was 24 and struggling to break through in the acting world, his mother took her own life. At that time, the actor wore the stage name Pedro Balmaceda. After her death, he changed it to Pedro Pascal.

The story goes on

Speaking about her tragic death, the actor told Paula Magazine 2017 in Spanish: “The circumstances of my mother’s death made it very difficult for us to remember her for who she was. It hurts so much… Sometimes I feel tormented and I try to deal with it the best I can because I know my mom doesn’t want me to do it any other way.”

In 2020 he also spoke about her and told People, “She was always incredibly supportive, never a stage mom. I always felt like she knew something I didn’t. None of[my success]would be real if it weren’t for them.”

On February 15, 2021, he shared a photo of her Instagram along with a sweet message for her birthday: “Mom, here you are at 22 in Denmark. Married, refugee and mother of two. Years later they would have two more, another son and another daughter. We’re fine; we take care of ourselves. Not a day goes by that you are not with us and we appreciate you.”

In the same year 2017 Paula In an interview he said: “She was the love of my life. I think of her every day. I don’t pray, so I can’t say I have any religious practice to feel close to her, but I live for her even though she’s gone.”

“Losing the most important person in your life, discovering that it’s possible and that what you fear most can happen is an inexplicable and enduring moment. There is a before and after.”

After his mother’s death, Pascal’s career slowed down. In the early 2000s, he landed in small, stereotypically Latino male roles: gang member and drug dealer. He has appeared in various police series such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Without a Trace, Law & Order and The Mentalist.

But in 2014, Game of Thrones introduced a new character, Prince Oberyn Martell, played by Pascal, and he quickly became one of the most popular actors to be remembered for his brutal death on the show.

Then he started getting lead roles, such as DEA agent Javier Peña in Narcos. He also joined the superhero universe in Wonder Woman 1984 and was chosen by Jon Favreau to bring Din Djarin to life in The Mandalorian of The Mandalorian “Star Wars” saga. And now he’s starring in the Show of the moment, the adaptation of the video game “The Last of Us”.

This article was translated from Spanish and originally published on Telemundo.com.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com