Pedro Pascal has heartbreaking reason why he chose his stage name

Man of the moment Pedro Pascal has revealed the heart-rending reason why he no longer goes by his birth name while acting.

Before Pascal, 48, starred as Joel in The Last Of Us’, The Mandalorian in the Star Wars galaxy, or even Game of Thrones heartthrob Oberyn Martell— he was known by another name.

Over the years, the Chilean-American actor has cemented himself in Hollywood as a household name.

However, prior to hitting the big time, he was previously landing smaller TV roles under a different moniker.

If you check out Pascal’s IMDB, you might be surprised to see he’s had a cameo in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and also appeared in an episode of Law & Order in 2008.

HBO

Elsewhere in the early 2000s, he also acted in Touched by an Angel. The latter was an American fantasy drama series that saw a trio of angels travelling the Earth to inspire lost souls with the teachings of God.

However, all of those roles were portrayed by Pascal under his birth name, Pedro Balmaceda. The reason for the switch to Pascal, however, is rather lovely.

In an interview with Esquire, he revealed that the professional name change was a decision made in tribute to his late mother.

In 2000, Pascal’s mother died by suicide. The actor was only 24 at the time and decided to change his name soon after to honour her.

Disney+.

As well as changing his name from ‘Balmaceda’ to ‘Pascal’ to remember his mother, he told Variety that the decision was also partially down to, “Americans [having] such a hard time pronouncing it.”

Following the death of his mother, close friend and American Horror Story actor, Sarah Paulson recently revealed that she helped financially support him.

“He’s talked about this publicly, but there were times when I would give him my per diem from a job I was working on so that he could have money to feed himself,” Paulson told Esquire.

“You just want him to succeed,” she continued. “And that to me, I feel like, is the sign of a major movie star.’

“I’m ready for him to take the reins from the guys from romantic comedies past, like Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson and all these guys,” Paulson continued. “He can be all that. Let’s remake Die Hard with Pedro. Remake all the Lethal Weapon movies with Pedro.

While we may not see a Die Hard remake starring Pascal soon, you can watch him in season three of The Mandalorian. The first six episodes are streaming via Disney+ now.