Sarah Paulson gave Pedro Pascal her acting pay back when he was a struggling actor

12 April 2023, 15:21

Pedro Pascal forgot he was cast in The Last of Us

By Katie Louise Smith

"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."

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Pedro Pascal might be the man of the moment with two absolutely massive roles currently dominating the TV landscape (The Last of Us and The Mandalorian) and an impressive Rotten Tomatoes streak that most actors could only dream of.

But as Pedro has previously explained in numerous interviews, it's taken a while for his career to reach these incredible heights. In a new profile for Esquire, Pedro discussed the early days of his career when he was auditioning for parts in New York City and Los Angeles back in the '90s and '00s.

Longtime bestie Sarah Paulson also shared some adorable – and hilarious – words about Pedro and their decades-long friendship, even sharing that she used to financially support him during difficult times.

Sarah Paulson used to share her pay from acting jobs with Pedro Pascal when he was a struggling actor. Picture: Stefanie Keenan/VF22/WireImage for Vanity Fair, Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage, Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

For those that had no idea that Sarah and Pedro were best friends, their friendship actually goes waaaay back to when they were both theatre students in New York in the early '90s.

Pedro later moved to LA to pursue his acting career with a handful of small roles in TV shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Touched by an Angel, before returning home to Chile when his mother tragically passed. He then moved back to New York and began auditioning over and over again, only to miss out on several parts.

Sarah then revealed that she helped him out during that time: "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."

'Per diem' is paid to an employee to cover daily expenses, such as travel and food.

Sarah Paulson joined Pedro Pascal while he hosted SNL. Picture: Getty

Elsewhere in the interview, Sarah also shared her honest thoughts about the internet's obsession with calling Pedro, "Daddy".

"I’ve been dealing with this mommy business for a few years now, and I actually don’t understand what a lot of it means," she said. "Knowing Pedro as intimately as I do, I would not want him to be my daddy, personally. I want him to be my pal that I can hang out with until all hours of the night, but Daddy?"

That said, Sarah is rooting for her bestie to climb even higher up the ranks of Bonafide Hollywood Movie Star, and take on a coveted classic romcom/action star role in the process.

"You just want him to succeed," she says. "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."

And we would love to see it!