Pedro Pascal recounts his family's 'unbelievable' story about fleeing Chile (2024)

Pedro Pascal has played brave and dashing fighters such as Joel Miller, Baby Yoda’s dad and Oberyn Martell, but perhaps the most impressive and painful narrative he’s been part of is his family’s real-life migration story from Chile to the U.S.

In an appearance on the “SmartLess” podcast this week, the “Last of Us” and “The Mandalorian actor gave a thorough account of how he and his family were required to flee the dictatorship of former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s.

“My parents, they were just very young when they had my sister and myself,” Pascal said. “ I wouldn’t say my parents were revolutionaries by any stretch of the imagination, but they were young, liberal college students.”

And while not active dissidents, Pascal’s mother had familial ties to those involved in the opposition movement to Pinochet’s military rule.

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The “Narcosstar’s family found itself in trouble after a gunshot victim was delivered to Pascal’s home so that his father, who was a resident at a local hospital in Santiago, could provide him with medical care. His parents also provided shelter for the victim as he went into hiding.

In an unfortunate turn of events, the person who took the gunshot victim to Pascal’s home was “taken into custody and tortured and gave names.” Then, authorities came looking for Pascal’s parents.

“So then my parents had to go into hiding for about six months,” Pascal said.

A plan was then devised and executed “like some sort of political thriller from the early ‘80s” in which Pascal, who was less than a year old, and his family sneaked their way into the Venezuelan embassy in Santiago and demanded asylum by climbing over a wall during a moment when guards weren’t on duty.

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The family was given asylum in Denmark, then ended up in San Antonio and finally in Orange County.

When asked by podcast hosts Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes if he ever planned to adapt his family’s “unbelievable” story into any form of art, Pascal simply said, “No.”

The “Game of Thrones” actor went on to talk about watching the 1982 film “Missing,” which was based on the disappearance of an American journalist in Pinochet’s Chile and was banned throughout the dictator’s reign. Pascal, 48, touched on the impact Costa-Gavras’ movie had on him when he saw it as a child.

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“It had such an imprint in my brain because of how closely I could relate it to my parents’ experience,” he said. “My mom was little and beautiful like [‘Missing’ star] Sissy Spacek ... I think about this, now in my middle age, how strange it is to get information in that way through cinema and relate it to an immediate experience of my parents that they are [at the time] sharing with me ... we just didn’t talk about it.”

In a 2017 interview with The Times, Pascal spoke about what it was like growing up in the U.S. with political exile parents.

“They were very strong progressive leftists,” he said. “If you brought something home from a Texas public school system that was not right, some bad talk about Russia or people of color, that was nipped in the bud really, really fast. My parents loved the U.S.”

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Pascal previously remarked on his family’s harrowing journey and thanked them for deciding to emigrate during his “Saturday Night Live” monologue back in February.

“My parents fled and brought me and my sister to the U.S.,” he said. “They were so brave and without them I wouldn’t be here in this wonderful country and I certainly wouldn’t be standing [on the ‘SNL’ stage] tonight.”

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Pedro Pascal recounts his family's 'unbelievable' story about fleeing Chile (2024)

FAQs

Pedro Pascal recounts his family's 'unbelievable' story about fleeing Chile? ›

They came looking for my parents, and so then my parents had to go into hiding for about six months,” he said, adding that his parents eventually found a way to physically climb over the wall of the Venezuelan embassy in Santiago and “demand asylum.” “And it worked,” he said.

When did Pedro Pascal flee Chile? ›

In an appearance on the “SmartLess” podcast this week, the “Last of Us” and “The Mandalorian” actor gave a thorough account of how he and his family were required to flee the dictatorship of former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s.

Did Pedro Pascal grow up wealthy? ›

Pedro Pascal did grow up in a working class family! His parents fled Chile during a time of political turmoil and ultimately settled in the United States, where they raised Pedro in San Antonio, Texas.

Why did Pedro Pascal move to America? ›

His parents opposed the dictatorial regime of Augusto Pinochet, and, while Pedro Balmaceda was still an infant, the family was forced to flee the country, eventually settling in the United States.

What caused Pedro Pascal to cry? ›

“First we filmed Gabriel [Luna], and then I noticed that each time we repeated, Pedro was crying,” Žbanić said. “He was not on camera, but he was crying because he was giving his partner everything so that he can act. This is very special. It's so generous of an actor to do this so deep.

Why did people flee Chile? ›

According to a study in Latin American Perspectives, at least 200,000 Chileans (about 2% of Chile's 1973 population) were forced into exile. Additionally, hundreds of thousands left the country in the wake of the economic crises that followed the military coup during the 1970s and 1980s.

Does Pedro Pascal have a religion? ›

Pascal identifies as an agnostic and a progressive liberal.

Does Pedro Pascal live in Hollywood? ›

The Last Of Us' Pedro Pascal's Hollywood home proves that neutrals are never boring. The Last Of Us star Pedro Pascal lives in Los Angeles – and with his zip code comes a glorious room with a view. In spaces such as this, there is no need for the furniture to do all the talking, so they don't.

Is Pedro Pascal in a relationship? ›

Pascal is not known to have a girlfriend currently, and if the lucky lady exists, more power to her for hiding from the Internet mob that would descend upon her if they went public.

Who is Pedro Pascal's wife? ›

Pedro is so busy with his career that he seemingly puts his love life on the back burner. He brought his sister, Lux Pascal, as his date to the 2023 Emmy Awards instead of a romantic partner. Pedro's never been married, but he has been linked to a few famous actresses that he's worked with over the years.

Does Pedro Pascal have a twin brother? ›

When did Pedro de Valdivia conquer Chile? ›

The task of conquering Chile was assigned to Pedro de Valdiva, who led his forces into Chile's fertile Mapacho Valley in 1541. The present day capital city of Santiago was established in that year, with a number of other major cities following soon after.

When did Neruda flee Chile? ›

Neruda's life underground ended in March 1949 when he fled over the Lilpela Pass in the Andes Mountains to Argentina on horseback. He would dramatically recount his escape from Chile in his Nobel Prize lecture. Once out of Chile, he spent the next three years in exile.

When did people disappear in Chile? ›

Bombing of the La Moneda Palace during the 1973 coup d'état. The worst violence occurred in the first three months of the coup's aftermath, with the number of suspected leftists killed or "disappeared" (desaparecidos) soon reaching into the thousands.

When did Isabel Allende flee Chile? ›

“Chileans learned not to speak out, not to hear, and not to see,” Allende wrote. “When I felt repression tightening like a noose around my neck, I left.” In 1975, on a rainy winter morning, Allende left Santiago for Caracas, Venezuela, carrying a fistful of soil; her husband and two children joined her a month later.

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