“Do you think you’re a heartthrob?”
“I don’t think I’m a...” Pedro Pascal begins to respond before the polygraph examiner interrupts him during a recent interview on Vanity Fair. “He’s lying.”
Pedro sheepishly chuckles and then concedes, “That’s right. Yes, I am. Yes, I’m a heartthrob.”
Where’s the lie?
Pedro Pascal is a heartthrob, and there’s no shame in admitting it. He’s fine. That smile. Those eyes. The effortless hair. Está chulo el cabrón. His charisma, his casual swagger, and his great sense of humor. It all lays the groundwork for his sex-symbol status.
Recent waves of famous Latino men comfortably border the line of feminized beauty, such as Christian Nodal, who feels comfortable wearing as much jewelry as a tía, and Bad Bunny, whose hairstyles constantly change. Although feminine expressions in men are becoming more mainstream, the majority of women still desire a man who balances it ever so perfectly with their innate masculinity.
Pedro strikes that perfect balance. His is a manly confidence of bygone eras who at the same time, is pioneering because, in his own way, he is challenging toxic machista prototypes.
Take, for example, his role in The Mandalorian. In it, he steps up and takes care of the kid.
He feeds the kid. He teaches the kid. He protects the kid. He handles it all, and that doesn’t make him a mandilón; that makes him a Mandalore legend because this is the way. This is the way to a woman’s heart. And this is the way into a woman’s pants, too.
“I’d let him insert me,” said my friend, half kidding, in a friends group text discussion about Pedro’s sexiness. She has vented to us about how her husband can’t even get the kids to school on time or forgets their lunch on days when she has to go to work early. She’s not alone in her frustration.
In contrast, Pascal’s Mando not only handles it all, but he does so ungrudgingly. He doesn’t think twice about taking the lead on the intergalactic carpool and making sure Grogu is properly buckled up. Want to get a woman hot? You better know your shit about the proper use of child-protective seating. Am I wrong?
Yes, the self-initiated child-rearing, the good sex, and the warrior prowess his characters showcase are appealing, but Pedro’s authenticity makes women swoon the most.
One of the first exposures we had to Pedro was in his role as Oberyn Martell in Games of Thrones. As Oberyn, he was the proud Girl Dad to eight daughters. He was also an epic lover and wasn’t scared to put up his dukes to protect those he loved. “He was amazing,” shared my sister-in-law when asked why she thought Pedro was a heartthrob. “He was very charismatic on GOT,” she added, as if Pedro and Oberyn were one in the same.
Good with kids? Good in bed? Good in a fight? What else can a woman want in a man?
Bad. A little bad. Women can’t resist a little bad in a man.
In Netflix’s Narcos, Pascal found, perhaps, the most paralleled role he has played yet: DEA Agent Javier Peña. Agent Peña is righteous, but he is also a little bad. He’s not scared to take a stand for what he believes in, even if it means going against his bosses. When he discovers the corruption of the very government that hired him to begin with, he goes rogue. Unapologetically.
Pedro personally knows something about this.
When his family fought against injustices in his native Chile and joined the movement to overthrow Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, they found themselves seeking political asylum in other countries. It’s evident that his family’s experience shaped his understanding of what it means to stand up against oppressive forces, what it means to start again in a foreign land, and what it means to do anything for those you love. The ethos he brings to the roles he plays is deeper than acting; it’s rooted in real life and gives us a glimpse into the pathos that drives him. This principled authenticity is the pinnacle of sexy, in any version of Pedro Pascal we get.
Yes, the self-initiated child-rearing, the good sex, and the warrior prowess his characters showcase are appealing, but Pedro’s authenticity makes women swoon the most.
That’s right. Yes, he is. Yes, he’s a heartthrob.
There’s no denying it, Pedro Pascal is sexy AF.
