Born in the Bronx and raised on Long Island, Pascal made his theatrical debut as the HIV-infected punk rocker Roger in the original New York Theater Workshop, Broadway and London productions of "Rent", earning an 1996 OBIE Award as well as nominations for both Tony and Drama Desk awards as Lead Actor in a Musical. Pascal's career cooled a bit after "Rent", however. Although he received many invitations to audition for movies and TV shows, he has admitted he blew them all because of his lack of formal training and acting experience.
He jump-started his career in 1999 when he agreed to play the male lead in Elton John and Tim Rice's "Aida" (formerly known as "Elaborate Lives: The Story of Aida"), a romantic tale involving an enslaved Nubian princess, a warrior and the Pharoah's daughter set in ancient Egypt. Riddled with technical problems in its out-of-town tryouts (Pascal and co-star Heather Headley were slightly injured when the tomb in which they were sitting suddenly dropped 15 feet to the stage), the musical was panned by critics when it arrived on Broadway in 2000. Although many reviewers conceded that the actors gave strong performances and the sets and costumes were spectacular, they generally denounced the show's story, book and music as unnecessary fluff. That didn't stop audiences, especially families, from lining up to see the eye-catching Disney production, though, and the show enjoyed a respectable run. That same year, Pascal also co-produced the hit Off-Broadway comedy "Fully Committed" with fellow "Rent" alum Jesse L Martin. The critically acclaimed, one-man show starred yet another "Rent" graduate, Mark Setlock. Pascal also realized a dream when he recorded his first solo rock album "Model Prisoner" on Sh-K-Boom Records.
Most of Pascal's film projects have been of a musical bent: he appeared opposite Jack Black in the hit comedy "School of Rock" (2003) and the little scene rock musical film "Temptation" (2004) before reprising his role as Roger for director Chris Columbus' uneven feature film version of "Rent" (2005), which had its moments put lacked the power and pathos of the stage production, particularly in the Roger-Mimi plotline.