Pedro Pascal Reveals The Special Reason He Changed His Name

With his acclaimed performances in The Mandalorian and HBO’s The Last of Us, Pedro Pascal has fast become one of the hottest names in Hollywood. Although, during the early days of his career, the actor went by a different name, which he would later change for a heartwarming reason.

In an April 2023 interview with Esquire, the Chilean-American actor — who was previously known professionally as Pedro Balmaceda — shared that he decided to change his birth surname to his mother’s maiden name (Pascal) following her tragic death in 2000.

In addition to honoring his late mother with a heartwarming tribute, Pascal also previously revealed to Variety that part of his decision to switch his stage name was “because Americans had such a hard time pronouncing Balmaceda. It was exhausting.” Speaking to the publication, the actor also disclosed that he even considered changing his first name to Alexander (inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander) in an attempt to land more roles.

“I was willing to do absolutely anything to work more,” he recalled. “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.”

Meanwhile, in his Esquire interview, Pascal also opened up about how his mother’s death impacted his acting career following his return to New York City in the 2000s. “I died so many deaths,” the actor shared. “My vision of it was that if I didn't have some major exposure by the time I was twenty-nine years old, it was over, so I was constantly readjusting what it meant to commit my life to [acting].”

Years later, Pascal landed his breakout role in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones as Dornish heartthrob Oberyn Martell, and the rest is history.