Nick Pasqual, an actor with credits that include a brief appearance on How I Met Your Mother, was found guilty Friday of attempted murder after prosecutors said he stabbed his ex-girlfriend, Hollywood makeup artist Allie Shehorn, more than 20 times during a 2024 break-in at her Southern California home.
The 36-year-old now faces the possibility of life in prison for the attack on Shehorn, an award-winning special effects makeup artist whose credits include Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire and Babylon.
During testimony last week at the San Fernando Courthouse, Shehorn, 37, showed jurors the scars left across her body and described what she said was a frightening pattern of abuse leading up to the assault.
According to ABC7, the couple had split after a violent altercation, and Shehorn had obtained a restraining order against Pasqual before the stabbing.
“I locked the door and he just started punching holes in that door and broke that open, and I just ran into the bathroom because I thought there’s another lock on that door,” Shehorn told the court through tears.
Jurors convicted Pasqual not only of attempted murder, but also of forcible rape, first-degree residential burglary with a person present, domestic violence, and injuring a spouse, cohabitant, fiancé, boyfriend, girlfriend or child’s parent, according to court records. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 2.
The attack unfolded around 4:30 a.m. in May 2024. Shehorn was discovered by her surrogate mother and rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Doctors performed multiple surgeries, and she spent nearly a week in intensive care as she recovered from slashes to her neck and cuts to her arms and abdomen.
Pasqual fled California in the days after the stabbing but was arrested a week later in Sierra Blanca while allegedly attempting to cross into Mexico.
Court filings painted an even more disturbing picture of the relationship. In her restraining order, Shehorn accused Pasqual of striking her with a belt, breaking down doors, causing a concussion, and raping and choking her during previous incidents.
Before the attack upended her life, Shehorn had already established herself as a respected force in genre filmmaking. In 2023, she won Best SFX Makeup at the Hollywood Blood Horror Festival for her work on Incorrigible.
And after months of recovery, Shehorn has returned to the job she loves. Since 2025, she has logged nine additional credits, including the upcoming action-comedy Code 3 — a hard-earned reminder that her story did not end with the attack.
