I am a refugee: my parents fled Chile under Pinochet in 1976 when I was 9 months old, and my parents were able to start from nothing and make lives for themselves in the United States.
Pedro Pascal
I'm not dangerous, but I have a sharp nose. I will probably be playing bad guys forever because of my face.
When I was in middle school, we had moved from Texas to Orange County. I didn't fit in, and it was pretty lonely.
I have the cliche 'struggling actor' story. I was waiting tables in New York, went out to L.A. soon after graduation to get some jobs, but it didn't work out. I wanted to cut my teeth in professional theater, so I came back to New York. It made my journey a longer one, but I really wanted to excel in the theater.
In about 2002, I moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn, to Red Hook.
I hate karaoke. I don't want to sing karaoke, and I don't want to listen to people sing karaoke.
My family is Chilean, and I was born there. By the time I was four, we were living in San Antonio, Texas, and I just remember picking a blue bonnet and getting yelled at by some guy with a sheriff hat and a badge. I was traumatized. He told me it was the state flower, and I wasn't supposed to be messin' with it.
My sister and I were born in Chile and raised in the States, and my little brothers were born in the States and raised in Chile after my parents moved back in 1995.
I'd asked for things like the 'Footloose' soundtrack and Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' for my birthdays, but I remember walking what felt like miles to this cassette shop called The Warehouse to buy Paul Simon's 'Graceland,' U2's 'Joshua Tree' and a Roberta Flack album. I had pretty good taste.
I never had an imaginary friend, just imaginary circumstances. I was so into the Indiana Jones movies, and I would constantly reenact circumstances. I broke my left arm three times, two of which were me trying to be Indiana Jones.
I am such a 'True Detective' fan. I was anticipating it each Sunday as it came. I'm kind of a sci-fi fan. I was really hooked on the 'Battlestar Galactica' series. I think I owned every box set of 'Battlestar Galactica.' I also really love 'Bob's Burgers.'
Steven Spielberg's name was all over 'Poltergeist,' and 'E.T.' was out the same year, which every single parent took their child to. So despite 'Poltergeist' being a horror movie, I convinced my parents to let me see it. It was terrifying. I guess this says a lot about me as a six-year-old, because I loved it.
I have really fond memories of Texas. By the time I was eight, we started to go back to Chile very regularly, and many family members came to visit us because we couldn't go visit them.
Being Latino and being an actor has been a unique struggle and opportunity. When you don't fit into what may be a more stereotypical vision of somebody whose name is Pedro is, it can be a little bit harder to navigate.
On the street, I get either 'Are you the Red Viper?' or 'Are you Javier Pena?'
I just went to your typical public schools, and my dad would take us to the movies every week, or he'd buy scalped tickets to San Antonio Spurs games. I remember I was four or five years old and my parents, who were very young, took us to see The Police in Austin, and Iggy Pop opened.
I have so many favourite science fiction films. I would say 'Alien' and 'Aliens' are two of my favourite sci-fi films. Also 'Children of Men' would be one of my favourite science fiction films. I love the original 'Solaris' and the remake. And even though it wasn't a film, the series 'Battlestar Galactica' was one of my favourite TV shows.
The acting training in school was great, but it was mostly fun being young and in New York. Because my upbringing was so transient, New York ended up being my home. I've been living in New York longer than I have anywhere else in my life.
I think that, like the show 'Game of Thrones,' our fascination with power struggles is pretty unanimous.
The only thing that being killed off on 'Graceland' helped me with on 'Game of Thrones' is that it made me available to actually do the job.
Someone asked how I feel about Captain Crunch. I'm capable of eating an entire box of it without any milk. It is a sweet taste that is indescribable. Captain Crunch is its own flavour.
The Red Viper enjoys life. He does not discriminate in his pleasures. This is the way he understands life, to live it to its fullest. And to limit yourself in terms of experience doesn't make any sense to him - what's beautiful is beautiful.
We got HBO when I was 7. My parents would be in bed, 'Children of the Corn' would be on at midnight, and I'd watch it on mute.
I love mixing horror with comedy.
When I moved to New York in '93, we'd go dancing a lot. That's what kept us in shape, I think.
My parents took us to a lot of concerts. We started asking for tickets for birthdays. My sister asked to go to Madonna's 'Like A Virgin' tour. I went too. I loved it!
I've been auditioning since I was 20, working as a waiter, getting theater gigs, doing the 'Law and Order's.
'Buffy' was one of the first jobs that I got. I was so excited to be on it, mostly because people in my life that I respected so much, my best friends and my sister, were obsessed with the show. Obsessed with it.
I had a really hard time in Orange County. I was a nerd. I was watching foreign cinema when I was 13 and talking about how 'Hope and Glory' should be a foreign film.
My dad is so impressed. He loves the movies and would take us two, three times a week, so this fantasy of mine of becoming an actor? I can blame my father for that. He's so amazed. And so happy.
I was so obsessed with film and actors that I wasn't a very good student. I was always in trouble, but my father would always take us to the movies.
I didn't choose to come to the United States, but being raised here has shaped exactly who I am today, and I can't imagine that being taken away from me.
