Pedro Pascal changed his name after tragedy - and due to struggling Americans
Pedro Pascal is one of the biggest names in Hollywood right now - but he was originally called something else.
The Last of Us star, who is on tonight's The Graham Norton Show, first rose to fame as Oberyn Martell in the fourth season of Game of Thrones.
Pascal has gone on to star in some of the biggest TV franchises, starring as Javier Peña in Netflix crime series Narcos and as the titular character in Disney's Star Wars spin-off The Mandalorian.
He's also appeared in blockbusters such as The Adjustment Bureau, Kingsman: The Golden Circle and Wonder Woman 1984 - and is now starring as Joel in HBO zombie series The Last of Us.
The Chilean-born American actor is now a household name - but he was actually born José Pedro Balmaceda.
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Pedro Pascal during the filming for the Graham Norton Show (PA)
Pedro is one of the biggest names in Hollywood (Getty Images)Pascal's family moved to the United States after being forced to flee Chile when he was just nine months old.
His parents, Verónica Pascal, a child psychologist, and José Balmaceda, a fertility doctor, risked their lives to fight for justice.
His mother was the cousin of Andrés Pascal Allende, the nephew of socialist Chilean President Salvador Allende - and both his parents were active in resistance groups against the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship
Because of this they sought refuge in the Venezuelan embassy in Santiago, were later granted political asylum in Denmark, then moved to Texas and then California.
Tragically, his mother took her own life in 1999 - and Pedro changed his last name from his father's, Balmaceda, to his mother's, Pascal.
Pedro credits his mum with finding fame, but sadly she never got to see his career take off.
"She was always incredibly supportive, never a stage mom. I always felt like she knew something that I didn't," he told People in 2020.
"None of [my success] would be real if it weren't for her."
Pedro is the star of The Mandalorian (Photo by StillMoving.net for Disney)It was a touching tribute for his late mother, but he also revealed that he made the change because the people around him struggled to say it.
"And also, because Americans had such a hard time pronouncing Balmaceda," he told Variety. "It was exhausting."
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The actor also tried to change his first name, swapping out Pedro for Alexander, so that he could get more acting jobs.
Alexander was an homage to Ingmar Bergman's 'Fanny and Alexander', one of the formative films of his youth.
"I was willing to do absolutely anything to work more," he explained. "And that meant if people felt confused by who they were looking at in the casting room because his first name was Pedro, then I'll change that. It didn't work."
He made appearances in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Good Wife, Homeland, The Mentalist and some Law & Order episodes.
But his career really picked up when his friend, actress Sarah Paulson, agreed to pass his audition for Oberyn Martell to her best friend Amanda Peet, who is married to Game of Thrones co-showrunner David Benioff.
Pedro as Joel in The Last of UsBefore long he was on the Game of Thrones set in a great hall along with the likes of Charles Dance and Lena Headey.
Pedro is appearing on tonight's The Graham Norton Show - and reveals he forgot he was offered the part of Joel in The Last of Us.
"It is a bit hazy because I had stayed up very late meeting everyone and was very excited, so I took a sleeping tablet," he says.
"When they called to offer me the part, I was so drowsy they had to repeat the offer.
"I then forgot that completely and when I woke up the following morning, I thought because of the time difference between London and LA, I would be waiting by the phone all day to hear if I got the job!"
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