Which episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was Pedro Pascal featured in?

For some of us, Pedro Pascal’s role as Joel Miller in HBO Max’s The Last of Us is how we’ve become acquainted with the actor.  Or is it?

The other morning when I was watching Today, they were talking about how Pascal had appeared in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They showed a much younger version of the handsome actor walking and talking with Sarah Michelle Gellar in a scene from the episode.

Well, that instantly got me wondering what episode it was. A quick Google search revealed it was season 4, episode 1, titled The Freshmen from 1999. Well, that explained why he looked so young in the clip Today showed. (Also, was Buffy really that long ago now? Dang. Time really does fly.)

However, he wasn’t Pedro Pascal back then. Not exactly. Let’s take a look.

Pedro Pascal before The Last of Us

Collider might have been the first to break the story about Pascal’s Buffy appearance. A few weeks ago, they wrote a great post called You May Not Have Recognized Pedro Pascal in Some of His Earliest Roles.

Speaking of those other roles, that’s another thing the Today anchors brought up: how Pascal was in Disney+’s The Mandalorian. (Which was a lightbulb moment for me. I knew I’d recognized that voice from somewhere!)

I was thinking The Last of Us might be his breakout role, but it’s not. Collider pointed out that honor goes to his appearance as Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones. (A revelation that switched on another lightbulb. That series also offered Pascal’s The Last of Us co-star, Bella Ramsey, a breakout role when she nailed the part of the tough and wise-beyond-her-years Lyanna Mormontin. Pretty cool that they’re now starring in another HBO hit together!)

Anyway, here’s the thing. He wasn’t Pedro Pascal back in the Buffy days.

Before he became Pedro Pascal

Here’s why some of us may not have known him as Pedro Pascal even if we remembered his face from the Buffy episode…or even some of his other earliest roles. On IMDB, his Buffy appearance is listed under Pedro Pascal, but with the notation “as Pedro Balmaceda.”

That’s the name he used for his first half dozen acting appearances, which started with two shorts, Burning Bridges and Window Shopping, and then one-episode TV series appearances on Good vs. Evil, Downtown (voice), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Touched by an Angel. He also appeared in three episodes of Undressed.

He was briefly Alexander Pascal for an episode of NYPD Blue and in his role as Goth Guy in the movie Earth vs. the Spider, which starred Dan Akroyd.

The last time he appeared in anything other than Pedro Pascal was when he was credited again as Pedro Balmaceda in the 2005 movie Sisters (original title Hermanas). Ever since then, he’s been Pedro Pascal.

They’re all just variations of the Chilean-born actor’s full name, which is Jose Pedro Balmaceda Pascal. Except for the brief stint as Alexander Pascal. I don’t know where the “Alexander” came from.

Anyway, kind of interesting to see his evolution. I think it’s pretty safe to say with the success he’s enjoyed as Pedro Pascal, that’s the name that will stick and is here to stay.

Did you remember Pedro Pascal in any of his roles before The Last of Us? Or are some of his roles news to you too? Leave a comment letting us know what you’ve liked him in best so far!