“I had less than $7 in my account”: Pedro Pascal says cult series saved him from homelessness
As one of the most in-demand actors in the business, Pedro Pascal no longer has to worry about where his next paycheque is going to come from, which must come as a huge relief after the financial struggles he faced in the early years of his career. Like many actors, worrying about paying the bills was as usual as going up for countless auditions.
It wasn’t until the fourth season of Game of Thrones premiered in 2014 that Pascal secured his breakthrough role as Oberyn Martell and all but guaranteed he wouldn’t need to worry too hard about paying rent anymore. But he’d made his on-screen debut 15 years previously in an episode of the supernatural comedy Good vs. Evil, where he was credited as Pedro Balmaceda.
Those formative years saw him appear in a number of TV shows, and almost always for a one-episode guest spot with little financial security attached. In fact, of the first 11 small screen credits he accrued, being credited in three instalments of MTV’s anthology Undressed was the only time he’d managed to stick around for longer than a cup of coffee.
He did lend his name to several hugely popular hits in the TV world, though, with NYPD Blue, Law & Order, and Without a Trace among them. However, it was the cult series Buffy the Vampire Slayer that kept him above the breadline.
The show is regarded as one of the most culturally rich of the 1990s, spawning a worldwide fandom and launching the career of Sarah Michelle Gellar as the titular warrior. Pascal’s entrance into the show’s lore was a little less spectacular as he played Eddie in the season four premiere ‘The Freshman’, who befriends Gellar’s hero before becoming a bloodsucking creature of the night.
Residuals were – and still are – pivotal for any aspiring actor trying to make their way in the industry, with Pascal revealing that the financial benefits of a mammoth show like Buffy played a huge part in convincing him that his dreams shouldn’t be abandoned.
The Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy-nominated star admitted he “had less than $7 in my account” when “a residual from Buffy the Vampire Slayer showed up and saved the day.” The star credited that fiscal boost as being “the reason I was able to stay in it and not give up,” as well as averting the dangers of homelessness.
It would still be another decade and a half before Pascal gained a real foothold in the industry, but since then, he’s never looked back. The visibility granted to him by Game of Thrones eventually parlayed into Netflix crime thriller Narcos, Disney+ Star Wars flagship The Mandalorian, and HBO’s acclaimed video game adaptation The Last of Us, while he’s been equally prolific on the big screen.
Among Pascal’s upcoming projects are Ridley Scott’s Gladiator sequel, Ari Aster’s dark ensemble comedy Eddington, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Fantastic Four reboot, but that success can all be traced directly back to a Buffy the Vampire Slayer residual that stopped him from giving up on acting altogether.
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