Best TV actors from each state
By Jeremy Dick
Bryan Cranston (California)
Bryan Cranston is one of the greatest performers in the history of television. Perhaps being born in Hollywood, California had something to do with it. Cranston has proven over the course of decades that Hollywood is exactly where he needs to be.
Most of us know Cranston for his breakout role on the sitcom series Malcolm in the Middle. As the dimwitted goofy father Hal, Cranston made audiences all over the world laugh. Easily, he’s the greatest and most hilarious aspect of that show. But, it doesn’t stop there.
When Vince Gilligan was developing Breaking Bad, the TV series about a teacher turned drug kingpin, he was thinking of Cranston. However, studio execs were apprehensive. They didn’t feel the goofy dad from Malcolm in the Middle could successfully pull off such a role. Interestingly, they wanted to pursue John Cusack or Matthew Broderick.
But years prior, Cranston appears as an anti-hero in a guest role on The X-Files. After Gilligan shows this footage to the studio, they finally greenlight Cranston’s casting. As anyone who has seen the show can attest, nobody else could have possibly played that role greater. He is such a big part of the massive success of the series.