José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal is a Chilean-born American actor.
Pascal has appeared in several television series, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Good Wife, Homeland, The Mentalist, and Graceland. He appeared as kidnapper Reggie in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Weeping Willow" and appeared as Special Agent Greer in Law & Order: SVU episode "Smoked". He was cast in the pilot for the 2011 Wonder Woman television adaptation, but the show was not picked up. In June 2013, he was cast as Oberyn Martell in the fourth season of the HBO series Game of Thrones. Pascal stated that he was a huge fan of Game of Thrones before being cast as Oberyn and was ecstatic to join. In 2015, Pascal was cast in the role of U.S. DEA agent Javier Peña in the Netflix original show Narcos. In the movie Bloodsucking Bastards (2015), Pascal portrayed the vampire Max.
Pascal has extensive stage experience as both an actor and director. He received the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award and Garland Award for his role in the International City Theater production of Orphans, and has performed in classical and contemporary works. He is a member of New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company. Pascal made his Broadway debut in February 2019 in an adaptation of King Lear with Glenda Jackson and Ruth Wilson.
In April 2015, Pascal co-starred with Heidi Klum in the music video for Sia's "Fire Meet Gasoline". In 2017, he starred as Agent Whiskey in Matthew Vaughn's Kingsman: The Golden Circle and as mercenary Pero Tovar in The Great Wall. In 2018, Pascal co-starred as Dave York, the primary antagonist in the thriller sequel film The Equalizer 2; the film starred Denzel Washington.
Since 2019, Pascal has portrayed the title role in The Mandalorian, the first live-action Star Wars television series, which debuted on Disney+. The same year, he starred as Francisco "Catfish" Morales in the Netflix heist drama Triple Frontier. He played Maxwell Lord in the DC Extended Universe film Wonder Woman 1984, directed by Patty Jenkins. Following delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was released to theaters and HBO Max on 25 December 2020.
In February 2021, Pascal was cast in the Judd Apatow film The Bubble. The film premiered on Netflix on 1 April 2022. Pascal co-starred with Nicolas Cage in the comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent which premiered at SXSW 2022 in April. In February 2021, Pascal was cast in the lead role of Joel Miller for the HBO adaptation of The Last of Us. Pascal received $600,000 per episode. In November 2022, he was cast in Freaky Tales, to be directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. He has also reprised his The Mandalorian role in the spin-off series The Book of Boba Fett (2022).
