It’s safe to say that Pedro Pascal is Hollywood’s most popular leading man right now. 

From dominating TV with roles in The Last of Us and The Mandalorian to starring in blockbuster films like Gladiator II, Materialists, and The Fantastic Four, Pascal is everywhere at the moment.

Pascal’s path to fame and fortune hasn’t been easy though, beginning with his childhood in Santiago, Chile.

At just four months old, his family had to escape Chile to avoid being caught during General Augusto Pinochet’s takeover, which marked the start of a military dictatorship in 1973.

Pascal’s mother, Veronica, a psychologist, and his father, Jose Balmaceda, a fertility doctor, were labeled as enemies of the state due to Veronica’s indirect connection to the socialist Chilean President Salvador Allende, who was ousted by Pinochet.

The family escaped to Denmark before relocating to the United States, but this wasn’t the end of their troubles. 

In 1995, Pascal’s father was swept up in a jaw-dropping fertility scandal that caused him to flee the U.S. and head back to Chile.

He was later charged with mail fraud and income tax evasion. 

Pedro Pascal may be Hollywood’s hottest leading man right now, but his path to fame and fortune was far from easy 

As per the Orange County Register, Balmaceda was involved in ‘switching frozen embryos of women without their consent’ at the fertility clinic he co-operated with two other partners.

The report declared that in 1995, Dr. Ricardo Asch, alongside Dr. Balmaceda and Dr. Sergio Stone, had misappropriated women’s eggs and transferred them to other women who subsequently had children from those eggs.

‘At least 15 live births resulted from the improper transfers, and the clinic was shuttered following the egg-theft scandal.’

Furthermore, it mentioned that an audit found nearly $1 million in clinic income was undisclosed, including ‘tens of thousands of dollars in cash payments from patients that were reportedly kept by the doctors.’

While Stone was convicted of fraud, both Balmaceda and Asch fled the U.S. before their trials – with Balmaceda, Pedro’s mother, and his two siblings moving back to Chile.

Asch was later arrested in Mexico, where he had escaped to. 

According to the New York Times, Balmaceda was able to restart his life in Chile and continued working as one of the country’s top fertility doctors. 

Years later – in 2022 – Balmaceda finally plead guilty to tax fraud and surrendered himself to law enforcement.

When he was a child, Pascal’s parents were forced to flee Chile so that they could avoid capture under General Augusto Pinochet

In 1995, Pascal’s father Jose Balmaceda was swept up in a jaw-dropping fertility scandal that caused him to flee the U.S. and return to Chile

ABC News dubbed the debacle ‘one of the biggest fertility scandals in history’. 

Despite his father’s scandalous past, Pascal and Balmaceda appear to be close, often sharing photos together on social media. 

Pedro even brought his dad, as well as his sister, transgender actress Lux Pascal, to the Gladiator II premiere in London last year. 

He has never publicly addressed his dad’s fertility scandal, instead choosing to focus on the struggles that his parents overcame by escaping Pinochet’s regime in Chile.  

Speaking about their journey in a SNL monologue, Pascal said, ‘They were so brave. And without them, I wouldn’t be here in this wonderful country, and I certainly wouldn’t be standing here with you all tonight.’

Tragically, Pascal’s beloved mother Veronica took her own life in 1999.  

Despite his father’s scandalous past, Pascal and Balmaceda appear to be close, often sharing photos together on social media

The actor’s beloved mother Veronica tragically took her own life in 1999

The Last of Us Star has spoken out numerous times about the huge impact she had on him, with him telling People in 2020, ‘She was the love of my life.’

He continued: ‘She was always incredibly supportive, never a stage mom. I always felt like she knew something that I didn’t. None of my success would be real if it weren’t for her.

‘I think about her every day. I don’t pray, so I can’t say I have a religious practice to feel close to her, but I live for her, even though she’s gone.

‘Losing the most important person in your life, discovering that something like this is possible and that what you fear most in life can happen, is an unexplainable and permanent moment. There is a before and after her death.’

‘The circumstances of my mother’s death made it very hard for us to remember her as the person she was,’ he also admitted in a 2017 interview with Paula magazine.

‘It hurts so much… Sometimes I feel anguished and I try to deal with it in the best possible way, because I know that my mother would not want me to do it any other way.’

Following her passing, Pedro decided to take on her maiden name as a tribute to her – officially making his stage name Pedro Pascal.

While there’s been endless speculation online about Pascal’s sexuality and romantic life, the Eddington hunk prefers to keep his relationships private.

Pedro even brought his dad, as well as his sister, transgender actress Lux Pascal, to the Gladiator II premiere in London last year

‘I’ve had dreams of taking my kids to the movies the way my parents took me,’ he once lamented to Vanity Fair. 

‘So I guess I want a shortcut to an interesting human being, who is my child, who will go see something that I want to see.’ 

However, despite refusing to publicly reveal his romantic partners to the world, Pascal claims that he isn’t actually a private person.

‘I always feel perplexed when I’m identified in whatever form of media as a “highly private person,” because that’s the opposite of me,’ Pascal explained. 

He continued: ‘I’m very unprivate in my private life. I just know that personal relationships are such a complex thing to navigate even without having this enormous lens on them.’ 

Pascal is currently enjoying the success of his latest film, The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

The Marvel movie launched with a bigger-than-expected opening weekend, raking in an estimated $118 million domestically and another $100 million overseas, for a global debut of around $220 million.