10 Awful Movies Breaking Bad Actors Want You To Forget

Giancarlo Esposito started his career early and made his Broadway debut at age 8 in a production of the musical Maggie Flynn. He went on to make subsequent appearances as supporting characters in acclaimed films throughout the '80s and '90s. He popped up in Trading Places, Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X and The Usual Suspects. He didn't achieve mainstream recognition however, until 2009, when he began playing meth distribution maestro Gus Fring in Breaking Bad's second season. He inhabited the role perfectly and made Gus one of the most frightening and iconic TV villains of all time throughout his three season run as the character.

His career had begun to wane in the years leading up his debut on the show, right as he was starting to obtain more major and prominent roles. He was a supporting player in most of the productions he worked on until 1997's Nothing to Lose, in which he landed one of his first main roles. The final product was a dated buddy cop flick that was dismissed by most critics and a box office letdown. It was a disappointing failure for Esposito, who appeared to be gaining promising momentum at the time, that led to a downturn in his career until Breaking Bad came along.