Yahoo Movies Pedro Pascal’s fascinating road to Gladiator II
The beloved actor's career has taken him in some interesting directions.
Pedro Pascal has won hearts and minds all over the globe in recent years, and he sure to continue to capture attention when he steps into the arena for Gladiator II — well, the Colosseum to be exact.
The actor's filmography has been full of intriguing roles, both on the good and bad side, which has made his journey to the Ridley Scott epic an enjoyable thing to witness. It hasn't been an easy ride to the top for Pascal, though, it took hard work and grafting to make it all possible.
Pascal came to wider attention when he was cast as Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones, the slick-tongued Dornish prince that helped turn the tables in the show's fourth season. The actor became a quick fan favourite thanks to the character's likability and witty remarks that came second only to Peter Dinklage's Tyrion Lannister, which is why Oberyn's gruesome demise hit viewers so hard.
2014 may have been when Pascal burst onto the scene but he worked significantly in the industry for two decades before that, including appearances in TV procedurals like CSI, Homeland and Nikita, and longer stints on shows like The Good Wife. Some of the actor's TV cameos have been celebrated since his Game of Thrones breakout, including his performances in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and NYPD Blue.
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It was these early roles that allowed Pascal to continue to work in the industry, as he has revealed how being one episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a big financial help. He told Entertainment Tonight: "My entry level lasted about 15 years. We're talking about being able to see a doctor, getting sick, having surgery, paying my rent.
"I had less than $7 in my bank account and a residual from Buffy the Vampire Slayer showed up and saved the day and literally is the reason I was able to stay in [Hollywood] and not give up."
After Game of Thrones, Pascal made good on the success he had on the HBO series by joining the cast of Netflix's hit crime drama Narcos. The actor portrayed Javier Peña, one of the agents doggedly pursuing drug kingpin Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura) and later the Cali Cartel across three seasons.
He also had a string of box office hits with The Kingsman: Golden Circle and The Equalizer 2, he was well and truly settled in the industry. The actor's star only continued to rise, and his projects continued to gain a lot of attention such as 2018's If Beale Street Could Talk, and Netflix hit Triple Frontier.
In 2019 things got even bigger for the actor with The Mandalorian, which saw Pascal take on the titular role and putting Star Wars on course for TV domination. He has portrayed the character for three seasons now, and will soon appear in a new movie — The Mandalorian and Grogu.
There was nowhere to go but up, even box office flops haven't brought him down. Pascal returned to his villainous roles in Wonder Woman 1984, as the smarmy yet charismatic Maxwell Lord, in 2020 — though the film was received poorly both commercially and critically, Pascal was one of the highlights of the film.
As he took on new roles Pascal found himself gaining a lot of attention online, with the public starting to lovingly refer to him as the "internet's daddy" and sharing more and more affection on him. The actor even amusingly embraced the attention by declaring he and friend Sarah Paulson would be the internet's parents during an SNL skit about the vast number of fancams about him.
His performance as Joel Miller in HBO's adaptation of The Last of Us also showed his skills as a dramatic actor, and was something quite different to what he's done before — even if Joel is, at his heart, a father figure who adopts a young ward like his character does in The Mandalorian.
Gladiator II is the latest in a long line of successes for the actor, in Scott's hotly anticipated follow-up to his 2000 masterpiece Pascal plays Marcus Acacius, a Roman general who is relegated to fighting as a gladiator after he refuses to send more men to their deaths on the whims of the emperors' fruitless quest for power.
For Pascal the role was unlike anything he'd ever done before, as he has told Heart FM of filming: "It was unbelievable! It's unlike anything I'd ever experienced, and it's unlike anything I'll ever experience again on the movie set."
Pascal has already received praise for his performance in the film. The biggest compliments may have gone to his co-stars Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington, but it's clear that the role will further solidify his hold on the entertainment industry.
Gladiator II premieres in cinemas on Friday, 15 November.
