Before the critical and (belated) commercial success of Breaking Bad, its star, Bryan Cranston, was mostly known for his comedic roles on American sitcoms, playing the dad in Malcolm in the Middle and making a few appearances as Hammond Druthers on How I Met Your Mother. Now, two years since Breaking Bad ended (*sob*), it's not in question what role Cranston is known for. He is the one who knocks; the meth-cooking chemistry teacher; Walter White and Heisenberg. There's no denying all that the show has done for him, as he has received four Emmy awards for his performance, becoming the first man since Bill Cosby in the 1960s to win three in a row. He's also landed a string of roles that likely wouldn't have went his way without the show, such as Argo, Godzilla, and the Broadway play All the Way, which is now becoming a TV movie in which he'll reprise the role of President Lyndon B. Johnson. However, it works both ways, and without Cranston's captivating, convincing performance it is difficult to imagine Breaking Bad working at all. He is the centre of the show, its volatile core, and you now can't picture any other actor possibly pulling it off the way he does. While part of that is undoubtedly down to the magnificent writing of Vince Gilligan and crew, there is a lot of Walter White (and Heisenberg) that comes straight from the man playing him. These are the tics, the nuances, the decisions that Cranston made, which in turn made the character one of the greatest in TV history.
NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far.
A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.
