Everyone is talking about Pedro Pascal. Men want him, women want him in bed, kids want him to be their father – it’s amazing what the right role can do for an actor.
Almost a decade ago, he landed a key role in Game of Thrones, which was then the world’s biggest TV series, followed by major roles in Narcos and The Mandalorian.
But it wasn’t until his standout turn in The Last of Us, which debuted on HBO Max in January, that he became a household name.
From Chile to Denmark
An Emmy acceptance speech is certainly on the cards, but who will he thank: After all, he’s 47, and the world wasn’t exactly falling over itself to recognize his star quality.
Well, at the top of the list should be Denmark. When Pascal was nine months old, his parents realized their lives were in danger, living under Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship.
They sought refuge in the Venezuelan embassy in Santiago, and it was from there that the family was granted political asylum in Denmark.
Wanted by the authorities
Both his parents, a child psychologist and fertility doctor, helped the opposition movement in Chile.
“It was the mid-’70s and my parents were young and liberal. It was a dangerous time and they were lucky to get out with their lives,” Pascal recalled in an interview with Orange Coast Magazine.
“Many people who spoke their mind disappeared and were in danger – it was a very intense climate for many years; they tried to help some people and got caught. They then snuck into the Venezuelan embassy after being in hiding for about six months after finding out that people were looking for them,” he revealed in a fan interview on Reddit.com.
Among many Chileans who were granted asylum
However, Pascal’s parents did not stay long in Denmark. Shortly after winning asylum, they moved to San Antonio, Texas.
The Pascal family were not the only Chileans who received asylum in Denmark, as hundreds of others did.
Film director Shaky Gonzalez (A Place to Die) arrived as a seven-year-old child in 1974, but luckily for his new homeland, he ended up staying.
Source: The Nordic Page