Pedro Pascal opened up and revealed harrowing details surrounding his parent’s bravery when immigrating to the United States. Pascal, 48, joined the SmartLess podcast where he spoke about his parents’ involvement in the resistance against Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s military regime.
Pascal described a night when his father, a local hospital resident, tended to a gunshot wound victim in their house and subsequently hid the same man from the authorities. According to Pascal, the person who brought the gunshot victim to Pascal’s home was captured by authorities where they were then tortured and disclosed the identities of those who helped them.
After authorities came looking for Pascal’s parents, the Pascal family went into hiding for half a year before physically climbing over the wall to the Venezuelan embassy in Santiago where they successfully demanded asylum. They went to Denmark before San Antonio and eventually landed in Orange County.
When podcast hosts Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes asked Pascal if he would ever transform his parents’ story into some art form Pascal answered with a simple ‘No.’
He did however discuss a film that seemed to connect with him on a personal level. The 1982 film ‘Missing’ was based on the disappearance of an American journalist during Pinchot’s rule. Pascal talked about how the film created an ‘imprint’ in his brain due to how similarly it mirrored his parents’ experience.
This is not the first time Pascal discussed his family’s journey. During his ‘Saturday Night Live’ monologue back in February he publicly thanked his parents for their bravery and risk.
“My parents fled and brought me and my sister to the U.S.,” he said. “They were so brave and without them I wouldn’t be here in this wonderful country and I certainly wouldn’t be standing [on the ‘SNL’ stage] tonight.”
Sources
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/07/entertainment/pedro-pascal-family-immigration-story/index.html
