Sarah Paulson and Pedro Pascal have been friends for over three decades.
The two actors met in 1993 when Pascal was studying at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Since then their friendship has only grown stronger.
In a recent interview with Esquire, Paulson revealed she supported Pascal financially in the early 2000s when he was still struggling to make a living as an actor.
Pascal had moved to Los Angeles after college to pursue acting but found it difficult to land enough work to pay the bills.
He eventually moved back to New York City to try again in 2000. Paulson revealed she would give him some money so he could "feed himself."
Of their friendship, she said:
“We would go to see movies all the time in those years 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."
"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."
Pascal recalled this period of his life was incredibly difficult and tested his resolve on whether he wanted to continue an acting career:
“I died so many deaths."
"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.”
Fast forward to the present day, and Pascal has become one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood.
He’s the lead in two major television series—HBO’s The Last of Us and Disney’s The Mandalorian—and he’s set to star in a Pedro Almodóvar-directed short film that will premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival next month.
The interview quickly went viral and many rejoiced in the story of this decades-long friendship.
The story of Paulson’s support for Pascal is a reminder of the importance of friendship and how a small act of kindness can make a big difference in someone’s life. It’s also a testament to the power of perseverance and hard work. Pascal never gave up on his dream of becoming an actor, even during the tough times, and now his dedication has paid off.
Paulson told Esquire she is thrilled that “everybody wants a piece” of Pascal now, saying he's the kind of person people "want" to see succeed.
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