Bryan Cranston
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| Bryan Cranston | |||||||
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| Born | Bryan Lee Cranston March 7, 1956 San Fernando Valley, California, U.S. |
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| Spouse(s) | Robin Dearden | ||||||
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Bryan Lee Cranston (born March 7, 1956 in San Fernando Valley, California) is an Emmy Award-nominated American actor, voice actor, writer and director, best known in his role as Hal, the father of the family in the Fox Network television situation comedy Malcolm in the Middle. He also played Dr. Tim Whatley on Seinfeld, Kevin James' neighbor in the The King of Queens and other roles in numerous movies and television programs. Bryan Cranston is now starring in the new AMC series Breaking Bad, which premiered on January 20, 2008.
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[edit] Biography
Bryan Cranston is the son of actor Joe Cranston and grew up in the Los Angeles area, graduating from Canoga Park High School. He began his acting career after college in local and regional theatres, getting his start at the Granada Theatre in the San Fernando Valley, California. Cranston is married to Robin Dearden, whom he met on the set of the show Airwolf (1984). He was playing the villain of the week, and she was his hostage (held at gunpoint). They have a daughter, Taylor.
Cranston was previously married to Mickey Middleton, a writer.
[edit] Work
Though best known for his work on Malcolm in the Middle which began in 2000, Cranston has worked regularly since the late 1980s, mostly in minor roles. His advertising work includes commercials for Lay's potato chips, Excedrin, Honda Accord, and Coffee-Mate. His voice acting includes English dubbing of Japanese anime, under the name "Lee Stone". Because he did voiceover and other work as part of the crew of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, the first Blue Ranger was named Billy Cranston in his honor.
His largest role prior to Malcolm was as astronaut Buzz Aldrin in the HBO series From the Earth to the Moon. Cranston has also played astronaut Gus Grissom in the film That Thing You Do!, and appeared as Nick Wrigley, the irresponsible uncle who steals Santa's sleigh to have a crazy ride to practically destroy Christmas in `Twas the Night, a Disney Channel Original Movie that was released in the winter of 2001. He also appeared in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan as a one-armed military officer.
His recurring role as Dr. Tim Whatley, Jerry's dentist on Seinfeld, earned him some fans. Several episodes focused upon his relationship with Jerry and his paranoia about the dentist, most notably when he becomes obsessed with the notion that Tim and his female assistant were molesting him while he was unconscious during dental surgery.
He has also had a recurring role on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens as Doug Heffernan's annoying neighbor, Tim Sacksky. He works as a water purifier salesman and in one episode he recruits Doug to sell them as well.
Cranston has directed several episodes of Malcolm in the Middle and received three Emmy nominations for his performance on the show. He also wrote and directed the 1999 movie Last Chance. He appeared in Little Miss Sunshine as a business colleague of Greg Kinnear. He also had a guest role in late 2006 on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, playing main character Ted's obnoxious co-worker and former boss Hammond Druthers. He recently had a role as Lucifer in the ABC Family miniseries, Fallen.
He has done voice acting for English dubbed anime series, including Royal Space Force - The Wings of Honneamise, Macross Plus, and Armitage III Polymatrix.
Cranston has guest-starred in many television series, including Sabrina, the Teenage Witch in which he was a lawyer attempting to free Sabrina from a contract; the sixth season episode of The X-Files, "Drive", playing a bigoted man who is being driven insane by high-pitched sonar waves; and Babylon 5 as Ericson, the captain of a White Star vessel ordered into a suicide mission to plant misinformation within the enemy ranks.
Recently, Cranston has landed the starring role on AMC's original series "Breaking Bad" in which he plays a high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, and then teams up with a former student to produce methamphetamine.
[edit] Awards
On July 6, 2006, Cranston was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the third time for the last season of Malcolm in the Middle, losing the award to Jeremy Piven of the HBO series Entourage.
On April 9, 2007, Cranston won the Blue Door Trophy in the inaugural episode of the US adapted version of the hit Australian television show Thank God You're Here.
