The Last of Us star Pedro Pascal overcame adversity as a child after his family left his native Chile in fear of the military dictatorship, eventually setting up their home in the USA.
Here's the trailer for his latest work which is currently taking the world by storm:
Pascal has made a great success of himself, he’s now one of the biggest actors on the planet having starred in Game of Thrones – giving one of the most memorable death scenes in any television programme ever – as well as The Mandalorian, Narcos and now, The Last of Us.
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With the show receiving critical acclaim and attracting millions of viewers all around the world, more attention is being given to Pascal as well, with many tipping him for some big prizes when the telly awards are handed out.
However, things could have been very different as Pascal and his family left their homeland when he was just a baby because of their perilous position with the government of Augusto Pinochet.
Pinochet became the leader of Chile in 1973, before being declared as the President of the Republic in 1974 and ruling effectively as a dictator until 1990.
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During that time, Pascal’s parents – a fertility doctor and a child psychologist – were involved with the opposition movement, which wasn’t always a great place to be during those times.
In fact, Pascal’s mom was the cousin of Andrés Pascal Allende, who was a leader of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left, a group who wanted to overthrow Pinochet’s military government.
Because of their activism against the ruling regime, his parents could have been in serious danger had they remained in Chile.
So, when Pascal was just nine-months-old, they sought refuge in the Venezuelan embassy in the Chilean capital Santiago, eventually managing to make it out, settling for a time in Denmark.
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In an interview with Orange Coast magazine, the 47-year-old said: “It was the mid-’70s and my parents were young and liberal.
“It was a dangerous time, and they were lucky they got out with their lives.”
In a Reddit interview, he expanded on the subject, adding: “A lot of people who spoke their mind were disappearing and in danger.
"It was a very intense climate for many years; they tried to help some people and were caught."
“They then snuck into the Venezuelan Embassy after being in hiding for about six months after finding out people were looking for them.”
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Their stay in Denmark was pretty brief, with the family relocating to San Antonio in Texas once their asylum claim was sorted out.
In the US, Pascal went to art school and then moved to New York’s Tisch School of the Arts, before going on to a career in TV and film that seems to be coming into a prime just about now.
Topics: US News, World News, Film and TV, Celebrity, Politics