This article was originally published on WHerMoments
Is there a hotter star in Hollywood right now than Pedro Pascal? The charismatic actor is firing on all cylinders at the moment. But as he continues to dominate the spotlight, we’d say it’s time to fill in the blanks on a little-known detail about his personal life. Yes, Pascal has enjoyed an epic, and adorable, 30-year friendship with fellow acting star Sarah Paulson, which wasn’t without its early-days drama, either. So get ready to learn more about the celeb besties you didn’t know you needed in your life!
Friends on the rise
Pascal and Paulson have both enjoyed incredible rises in the entertainment industry, taking the big and small screens by storm. Quite frankly, we’d be amazed if either of them could’ve predicted this when they were first introduced to each other back in the 1990s, so that must make their respective successes all the more sweet.
While they took separate paths, the pair ended up in the same place. And now they’re at the top of the mountain, more people are zoning in on their friendship.
A deep bond
It isn’t hard to understand why, either. Paulson and Pascal’s bond runs deep: it’s the furthest thing from a generic Hollywood friendship. And as we noted before, it’s been tinged with drama at points, too. For instance, one of the stars provided financial support to the other in the early part of their career.
You don’t do that if you’re not tight with someone. So on that note, we’d say it’s time to take a dive into this unique celeb relationship.
How it all started
It all began in September 1993. At that stage, Pascal was just getting his feet under the table in New York City; he was preparing to join his fellow students at New York University’s Tisch School Of The Arts.
Fortunately, it didn’t take Pascal long to make a friend there, who went on to connect him to another fledgling performer. Yep, we’re talking about Paulson. The Hollywood stars looked back on that during a joint chat with Interview magazine in 2014.
“Adopted me”
Pascal recalled to Paulson, “I was really lucky because my first friend at NYU lived in Brooklyn, Kristen. And [she] went to high school with you, so your guys’ posse kind of adopted me.” Paulson and her “posse” first formed at the prestigious LaGuardia High: you might know it better as the Fame school.
Stars such as Al Pacino, Jennifer Aniston, Robert De Niro, Nicki Minaj, and Timothée Chalamet are all previous students there, so she’s in very good company!
A crazy night
What did Pascal and Paulson get up to during those early days, then? Well, the actor remembered one crazy night in particular that started in a movie theater and nearly ended in an emergency room.
With the posse in tow, he’d traveled to the Upper East Side to catch a showing of Fearless, a tear-jerking movie starring Jeff Bridges. “There were eight of us sitting next to each other,” Pascal noted. “And as I remember, we were all sobbing by the end of it.”
“First step towards bonding”
Once they’d composed themselves and left the theater, the group then headed to a park and randomly came across Hollywood star Woody Harrelson. Pascal stated, “We were the two people who knew exactly who he was and fanned out a little bit. Nobody else cared.
We had our little celebrity-sighting moment and that, in retrospect, was our first step towards bonding.” But the evening came very close to ending in disaster when the friends were “knocked down by a cabbie.”
“A wonder we survived”
Hey, we did say it had been a crazy night! Paulson recalled, “I remember that so clearly. It’s a wonder we survived.
When I think about the debauchery, the things that we did, the kind of [stuff] we were pulling and the way we were behaving, I don’t even know how we made it to the next morning, much less 20 years later.” Survive they did, though, and their relationship only got stronger thanks to further visits to the movie theater.
Further bonding
Paulson touched on that during an interview with Esquire magazine in April 2023. “We would go to see movies all the time in those years,” the actress said. “And we would get so lost in them.
You can fill in the blanks about the why of that however you like, but I think there were things we wanted to escape mentally, emotionally, spiritually.” Yet for as close as Pascal and Paulson were becoming, their budding friendship threatened to tail off as the ’90s progressed.
Losing touch
Why’s that? Well, Paulson and Pascal clarified the situation in their sit-down with Interview. “I think we went through a period where we didn’t talk as much, but it was never because we were fighting,” she noted. Her pal then responded, “You were the first of all of us that started working and never stopped.”
Yes, Paulson packed her bags for Los Angeles, California, and the move quickly paid off. For starters, she made her on-screen bow in a 1994 episode of Law & Order.
Reconnecting
From there, Paulson then bagged a number of other roles in the mid-to-late ’90s, including a recurring part in the TV show American Gothic. Pascal hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d said she never stopped working! But what about him? Where was the future Hollywood star at that point?
After Paulson left the Big Apple, Pascal eventually followed a few years later, which led the pair to resume their friendship in Los Angeles. And this time, they were determined to stay in touch.
“Chapter two of our friendship”
“I came to L.A. for a bit and then went back to New York,” Pascal informed Interview. “Even after going back to New York, we somehow went into chapter two of our friendship: we [became] attached to each other and haven’t been able to let go.”
As to why their bond has managed to endure, Paulson once again looked back on that crazy evening in New York City in the early 1990s. From her perspective, that was a defining moment.
An exciting debut
Paulson noted, “I think when you get knocked off by a cabbie and you see Woody Harrelson and you see Fearless all in one day, you’re either bonded for life or you’ll never see each other again.”
So, other than hanging with his bestie, what did Pascal get up to when he made the switch to Los Angeles? Was he able to find work as quickly as Paulson? Well, his first on-screen acting gig couldn’t have come on a bigger show.
“Obsessed with it”
Yes, Pascal scored a role in a 1999 episode of the hit TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not a bad start, right? Unsurprisingly, he was absolutely jazzed to get the chance to showcase himself on a major stage. But the part meant more than that.
As the actor told Esquire, “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.”
A busy debut year
“I wasn’t watching it at the time,” Pascal continued. “I’ve [since] introduced myself to the whole Buffy experience. It was cool because it was the fourth season premiere; Joss Whedon directed the episode. I always die. In everything. Even to this day, all these years later, I still die.”
In addition to the Buffy episode, he also bagged three more minor roles in different TV shows that year. So things were looking promising at that stage, but Pascal’s optimism soon gave way to fear.
Hard times
After a busy 1999, Pascal was only able to nab three acting jobs between 2000 and 2001. Then, he had to wait another four years until the next opportunity came along, despite putting in the work at auditions. It was an extremely tough period for him, and Paulson knew it.
By that stage, she was well on her way to establishing herself, holding down a regular role on the show Jack & Jill. She made an appearance in the hit big screen comedy What Women Want during that spell, too.
“Money to feed himself”
But regardless of her exciting rise, Pascal was never too far from Paulson’s thoughts. And it led the actress to do something quite amazing in the early part of the noughties.
While chatting with Esquire, she said, “He’s talked about this publicly, but there were times when I would give him my per diem from a job I was working on so that he could have money to feed himself.” If the night out in New York City kicked off their friendship, then this must have surely cemented it!
Assessing the situation
Mind you, while Paulson clearly had his back and was willing to support him through this difficult spell, Pascal started to assess his options. The actor realized that his unsuccessful search for work couldn’t go on for too long, so he set himself a personal target.
The actor went into more detail about those trying times during his conversation with Esquire, outlining how precarious it had really been.
“Died so many deaths”
“I died so many deaths,” Pascal bluntly admitted to the men’s magazine. “My vision of it was that if I didn’t have some major exposure by the time I was 29 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. There were so many good reasons to let that delusion go.”
Turning point
But his fortunes started to change in 2005; Pascal ended his long wait for a role in the movie Sisters, before getting a steady stream of work over the next few years. And as he was finally finding his feet, Paulson was cast in the TV show that made her superstar in 2011.
Of course, we’re referring to American Horror Story. They were both on the up, but Pascal still hadn’t scored a career-making part just yet: that brings us on to 2014.
The star-making role
After years of effort, Pascal bagged the job that would ultimately change his life forever. Yes, he was cast as Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones. While the actor was only in seven episodes, he left a huge mark in what many consider to be the show’s hottest period.
And he followed that up with a solid role in the popular series Narcos. Suddenly, people were starting to take note of his career, as well as his friendship with Paulson.
Red-carpet dates
Yep, while enjoying their respective rises in the business, Pascal and Paulson were frequently pictured together at celebrity gatherings. In 2014 alone, the duo went to both the Directors Guild of America Awards and the Producers Guild Awards as each other’s date.
They continued to pop up as a pair the following year, too, ahead of going to the SAG Awards in 2016. Due to their tight-knit bond, it’s not surprising that the stars looked pretty inseparable in all those snaps!
Broadway bow
And their friendship came into focus once again in the spring of 2019. After becoming established in Hollywood, Pascal turned his attention towards the stage: more specifically, to Broadway. He made his first appearance there in a production of King Lear, so of course Paulson grabbed a spot in the audience.
It was a special moment, given their ties to the Big Apple. Following the show, she then shared a sweet message on social media, alongside an equally adorable photo.
“In awe of you”
Paulson wrote, “I love you Pedro Pascal. What an extraordinarily moving thing to witness your Broadway debut. I am in awe of you.” But it’s somewhat likely that she wasn’t the only one flying the flag for Pascal at that stage.
He’d built quite the fanbase for himself thanks to his work, and it only got bigger near the end of 2019. That’s when The Mandalorian started, raising his profile even further. Pretty impressive considering we barely see his face!
Making time
So Pascal’s star kept reaching new heights, while Paulson wasn’t doing too badly, either. Still, regardless of how busy they were, the pals continued to make time for each other. For instance, she posted a lovely message on his birthday in 2020.
Taking to Instagram, the actress wrote, “Long standing, always enduring, ever-evolving friendships feel particularly poignant these days. Woody Harrelson, Central Park, and Fearless forever. I love you now and always. Here’s to more of all of it.”
“Goddess”
How did Pascal respond to that? Simple: he returned the favor on Paulson’s big day later that year. “Dancing to Prince with this woman for more than half my life,” the actor penned on Instagram. “Happy birthday you goddess.” The uncut message was a little stronger than that, but still!
He also included a video of his bestie grooving to the musical icon. Who wouldn’t love to see the pair busting a move together to “When Doves Cry” or “Kiss”?
Saturday Night Live appearance
Enduring and strong as their friendship has proven to be over the last 30 years, 2023 produced a landmark high point. With The Last of Us firing Pascal further into the stratosphere, he was given the chance to make his Saturday Night Live debut that February.
And for one of the skits, he called upon Paulson to join him. Two best friends at the peak of their powers performing together on live television: it doesn’t get better than that, right?
“A major movie star”
But when it comes to Pascal’s career right now, Paulson couldn’t be happier. As she gushed to Esquire, “You just want him to succeed. And that to me, I feel like, is the sign of a major movie star.
I’m ready for him to take the reins from the guys from romantic comedies past, like Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson and all these guys. He can be all that. Let’s remake Die Hard with Pedro. Remake all the Lethal Weapon movies with Pedro.”
Biggest cheerleader?
While Pascal boasts millions of fans today, it could be argued that none of them are bigger cheerleaders for his success than Paulson. And she proved that again in April 2023. During that period, the actor was selected as part of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023 list.
Each person had someone close to them pen their entry, so you can probably guess who stood up for Pascal! Paulson wrote, “Pedro Pascal is the whole deal. Sorry, no other word will do.”
“Simply lucky”
“I’m not biased, in spite of my knowing for 30 years what you all are just coming to understand about Pedro,” Paulson added. “I’m not showing off, just simply lucky to have had his phone number my entire adult life. And no, I won’t give it to you.
What I will give you is the guarantee that everything you hope he is, HE IS: powerful, soulful, hilarious, goofy, capable of having the deepest conversations, and in possession of the broadest shoulders to lean on.” Besties for life? You bet!