Bryan Cranston
Bryan Lee Cranston (born March 7, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is best known for portraying Walter White in the AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad (2008–2013) and Hal in the Fox sitcom Malcolm in the Middle (2000–2006). He has received a number of awards, including six Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and two Golden Globes, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award.
Bryan Cranston
Cranston's performance on Breaking Bad earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series four times (2008, 2009, 2010, and 2014) and a Golden Globe in 2014.[1] After becoming a producer of the show in 2011, he also won the award for Outstanding Drama Series twice.[2] He was previously nominated three times for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in Malcolm in the Middle. Cranston co-developed and occasionally appeared in the crime drama series Sneaky Pete (2015–2019), and has also starred in the drama series Your Honor (2020–2023).
On stage, he earned a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his portrayal of President Lyndon B. Johnson in the Broadway play All the Way (2014), a role he reprised in the 2016 HBO film of the same name. He received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor and his second Tony Award for portraying Howard Beale in the play Network on the West End and Broadway, respectively.[3][4]
Cranston earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for portraying Dalton Trumbo in Trumbo (2015). Other notable films include Saving Private Ryan (1998), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Drive (2011), Contagion (2011), Argo (2012), Godzilla (2014), The Infiltrator (2016), The Upside (2017), and Asteroid City (2023). He has also voiced roles in Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012), Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016), Isle of Dogs (2018) , and Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024).
Early life and education
Bryan Lee Cranston was born in Hollywood, Los Angeles,[5][6] on March 7, 1956,[7] the second of three children born to Annalisa "Peggy" (née Sell), a radio actress, and Joseph Cranston, an actor and former amateur boxer.[8][9] His father was of half Irish, quarter Austrian Jewish, and quarter German descent, while his mother was the daughter of German immigrants.[10][11][12] He has an older brother, Kyle, and a younger sister, Amy. Cranston was raised in Canoga Park, Los Angeles.[2][13][14] His father held many jobs before deciding to become an actor, but did not secure enough roles to provide for his family. He eventually walked out on the family when Cranston was 11 years old, and they did not see each other again until a 22-year-old Cranston and his brother Kyle decided to track him down.[8] Cranston later starred in a film directed by his father entitled The Big Turnaround in 1988.[15] He then maintained a relationship with his father until the latter's death in 2014.[16]
Cranston has claimed that he based his portrayal of Walter White on his own father, who had a slumped posture "like the weight of the world was on his shoulders".[8] After his father left, he was raised partly by his maternal grandparents[17][18] and lived on their poultry farm in Yucaipa, California. He has called his parents "broken people" who were "incapacitated as far as parenting" and caused the family to lose their house in a foreclosure.[18] In 1968, when he was 12 years old, he encountered Charles Manson while riding horses with his cousin at the Spahn Ranch.[19] This happened about a year before Manson ordered the Tate-LaBianca murders.[20] Cranston graduated from Canoga Park High School, where he was a member of the school's chemistry club,[21] and earned an associate degree in police science from Los Angeles Valley College in 1976.[22] While at Los Angeles Valley College he took an acting class for an elective, which inspired him to pursue a career in acting, saying "And at 19 years old, all of a sudden, my life changed."[23]
Charity work
In April 2014, Cranston presented at Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Easter Bonnet Competition with Idina Menzel, Fran Drescher, and Denzel Washington, after raising donations at his Broadway show All the Way.[74]
Influences
Cranston has stated, "Dick Van Dyke influenced me a lot... you know, his physical comedy and his ability to be loose in his body."[75] In a 2016 interview with Larry King, he said that he would love to work with Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, and Dustin Hoffman.[76]