[10] Two years before Pascal's birth, the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende was overthrown by General Augusto Pinochet, leading to the country becoming a military dictatorship.

[11] The family later received political asylum in Denmark[12][13] before settling in the United States, where Pascal was raised in San Antonio, Texas,[14] until they relocated to Orange County, California, when he was 11 years old.

[15] "My vision of it was that if I didn’t have some major exposure by the time I was twenty-nine years old, it was over, so I was constantly readjusting what it meant to commit my life to this profession, and giving up the idea of it looking like I thought it would when I was a kid.

Early in his career, Pascal appeared in several television series, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, NYPD Blue, The Good Wife, Nurse Jackie, and Homeland.

"[18] At a point when he found difficulty in affording medical care, only having less than seven dollars in his bank account, he received a residual check from his role in Buffy, which helped him to restabilize his finances and allowed him to continue pursuing acting.

[23] In 2010, he wrote a play, directed by Sarah Silverman, Flaca Loves Bone, about four siblings who meet in a snowy wood to uncover a family secret.

[30] The season aired from April 6 to June 15, 2014, and Pascal's performance as the passionate and vengeful Dornish prince garnered significant praise from both critics and audiences, with numerous publications, including CNET,[31] Collider,[32] The Mary Sue,[33] Time,[34] and Esquire naming Martell as one of the best characters in the show.

[41] In August 2015, Pascal gained further recognition for his portrayal as Javier Peña, based on a real-life DEA agent, in the popular Netflix crime drama series Narcos.

[47] In 2017, Pascal portrayed the charismatic and skilled operative within the Statesman organization, Jack Daniels, also known as Agent Whiskey, in Matthew Vaughn's Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

[50] In Prospect, Pascal portrayed the character Ezra, a seasoned and enigmatic prospector navigating a dangerous alien moon in search of valuable resources.

[52] In 2018's If Beale Street Could Talk, directed by Barry Jenkins and based on James Baldwin's novel, Pascal made a cameo appearance as Pietro Alvarez, a frivolous yet crucial character who ultimately reveals a compassionate and empathetic side.

[53] In February 2019, Pascal made his Broadway debut in an adaptation of King Lear with Glenda Jackson and Ruth Wilson, where he took on the role of Edmund, the cunning and ambitious illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester.

[54][55] Since 2019, Pascal has portrayed the title role in The Mandalorian, the first live-action Star Wars television series, which debuted on Disney+, the show follows the adventures of a lone bounty hunter in the outer reaches of the galaxy.

[60][61] The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw called Pascal's character "a version of Norman Vincent Peale, the positive-thinking guru who was such an influence on presidents Nixon and Trump".

[65] In early 2021, a video from a 2020 virtual play reading of I, My Ruination surfaced on multiple social media platforms of Pascal laughing hysterically then transitioning smoothly into crying.

[70] A scene in which Pascal's character looks at a gruff and irritated Cage with a grin on his face while driving under the influence of LSD would spawn another internet meme on TikTok.

It is commonly used humorously when two parties are in stark disagreement or conflict with each other over a topic in an exaggeratedly emotional fashion, and is paired with the 1969 Mama Cass song "Make Your Own Kind of Music".

In 2023, Pascal starred in the HBO's highly anticipated television adaptation, The Last of Us, based on the critically acclaimed video game under the same title, created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann.

[80] He took on the role of Joel Miller, a hardened survivor in a post-apocalyptic world, tasked with protecting a young girl named Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey.

[81] Empire's John Nugent and /Film's Valerie Ettenhofer praised Pascal's performance as the best of his career, citing his ability to portray nuance and rare vulnerability.

[82][83] The characterization of the paternal dynamic in the role and the similarity of his character in The Mandalorian earned Pascal international recognition for portraying adoptive father figures.

[97] In June, musician Omar Apollo released his second studio album, God Said No, where Pascal features on the penultimate track, "Pedro", where he contributes a monologue about his heart being "shattered by something".

[109] Beginning his career in 1996, Pascal's highest rated film and television projects, according to the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, include: The Uninvited (2024), The Last of Us (2023–present), If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), Calls (2021), The Good Wife (2009–2011), The Mandalorian (2019–2023), Prospect (2018), Narcos (2015–2017), Game of Thrones (2014), and Graceland (2013–2014).