Bryan Cranston: 5 Awesome Performances & 5 That Sucked

1. Walter White - Breaking Bad (2008-2013)

Strictly speaking, Cranston's performance on Breaking Bad could take up two slots on this list, given how different the two competing aspects of his character are: his Walter White is almost as tragi-comic as Malcolm In The Middle's Hal, though he's been dealt a worse, more grim hand, and his Heisenberg is a picture of simmering fury - a myth in the Batman mould who thrives on reputation, but who is empowered to commit heinous acts by the protection of his fake name, iconic hat and fearsome reputation. Cranston will now no doubt be up for consideration when every big leading man role of a certain age, and a certain grit comes up for casting, and the beauty of his Walter White performance is that it was so broad, and took in such a rich gamut of emotions and requirements that suggesting that he is type-castable is obscene. From season to season, and episode to episode, White is a different prospect entirely; at once a caged animal, bearing claws and bloodied teeth, and then a resourceful, but fundamentally terrified victim, and the power of his performance is how well Cranston sells the central contradiction of a science teacher who became a drug lord. Like the best superheroes, Heisenberg requires a disjointed performance: the public face hiding, and occasionally betraying a fierce undercurrent, and the idea of anyone else attempting to play him now is simply unthinkable. But it hasn't always been so good for Cranston...