Last updated: October 9, 2026.
Pedro Pascal was nine months old when his parents carried him out of Chile. They had spent six months sheltering in the Venezuelan embassy in Santiago. The Pedro Pascal family story starts there, with a young couple on a dictatorship’s wanted list and a baby.
The name he acts under is his mother’s. He took it after she died, long before anyone knew who he was.
Quick Facts
| Birth name | José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal |
| Born | April 2, 1975, Santiago, Chile |
| Raised | San Antonio, Texas, and Orange County, California |
| Mother | Verónica Pascal Ureta (1953-2000), child psychologist |
| Father | José Balmaceda Riera, reproductive endocrinologist |
| Siblings | Javiera Balmaceda, Lux Pascal and a younger brother |
| Education | Orange County School of the Arts (1993); NYU Tisch School of the Arts (1997) |
Who Are Pedro Pascal’s Parents?
Pedro Pascal’s parents are Verónica Pascal Ureta and José Balmaceda Riera. His mother was a child psychologist. His father is a doctor who specialized in fertility treatment.
The family was tied to Chilean politics. Pedro is a great-nephew of Laura Allende, a politician and the sister of President Salvador Allende. He is also a second cousin of Andrés Pascal Allende, who led the Movement of the Revolutionary Left. The Chilean newspaper La Tercera has reported on the day that cousin played with Pedro when he was a small child.
On his father’s side, his grandmother was born in Mallorca. Her brother was the footballer and coach Fernando Riera.
Why Did the Pedro Pascal Family Leave Chile?
The Pedro Pascal family left Chile because his parents were in danger. After General Augusto Pinochet took power in the 1973 coup, both were listed as enemies of the state.
They took refuge in the Venezuelan embassy in Santiago and stayed for six months. They then left the country and were granted political asylum in Denmark.
From Denmark the family moved to the United States. Pedro grew up in San Antonio, Texas. When he was 11 they moved to Orange County, California.
Does Pedro Pascal Have Siblings?
Yes. Pedro Pascal has an older sister, a younger sister and a younger brother.
- Javiera Balmaceda, the eldest, is a film and television producer.
- Lux Pascal, his younger sister, is an actress who trained at the Juilliard School. She has come out publicly as a transgender woman, and Pedro has supported her openly.
- His younger brother stays out of public life.
What Happened to Pedro Pascal’s Mother?
Verónica Pascal Ureta died in 2000. She was in her forties, and Pedro was three years out of drama school.
The family had gone back to Chile in 1995. That move followed a scandal at the California fertility clinic where his father worked. The New York Times reported in 1996 that José Balmaceda was accused of using patients’ eggs and embryos without their consent.
Pedro stayed in the United States to keep acting. After his mother’s death he began using Pascal as his professional name. He told Variety in 2020 that it was partly a tribute to her and partly practical, because Americans struggled to pronounce Balmaceda.
The same year, People ran an interview in which he credited his success to her.
How Did His Family Shape His Career?
Pedro Pascal spent almost 20 years in small stage and television parts before he was well known. He waited tables to pay rent and has said he was fired close to ten times.
At one point he had less than seven dollars in the bank. A residual cheque from an old episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer kept him going. His friend Sarah Paulson gave him her own daily expense money from jobs so he could eat.
The break came at 39, as Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones in 2014. Narcos followed, then The Mandalorian in 2019 and The Last of Us in 2023. In 2025 he played Reed Richards in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Several of those characters are men protecting a child. It is hard not to notice the echo of his own start in life, carried to safety by his parents.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are Pedro Pascal’s parents? Verónica Pascal Ureta, a child psychologist who died in 2000, and José Balmaceda Riera, a fertility doctor.
Where is Pedro Pascal from? He was born in Santiago, Chile, and grew up in Texas and California.
Why did his family leave Chile? His parents were named enemies of the state by the Pinochet dictatorship. They received asylum in Denmark.
Does Pedro Pascal have siblings? Three: older sister Javiera, younger sister Lux and a younger brother.
Why does he use the name Pascal? It is his mother’s surname. He adopted it professionally after her death.
Is Pedro Pascal related to Salvador Allende? Distantly. He is a great-nephew of Laura Allende, the president’s sister.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Pedro Pascal, citing Variety (2020), People (2020) and The New York Times (1996)
- La Tercera: on Andrés Pascal Allende and the young Pedro Pascal
- The Juilliard School: Lux Pascal
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