Bryan Lee Cranston (born March 7, 1956) is an American actor most famous for his Emmy-winning roll as Walter White in Breaking Badnote and as Hal Wilkerson in Malcolm in the Middle. During his youth, he started acting in theaters such as the Granada Theater, though he stopped for a bit until the late 80's since his show business parents weren't too keen on Cranston being in the acting business.
Cranston has also done work as a voice actor, providing voices in English dubs for Japanese anime such as Macross Plus and Armitage III (sometimes going under the pseudonym "Lee Stone"), though he isn't exactly a big name in the anime industry and he considers his early dubbing work an Old Shame. His more recent involvements with voice acting were in the animated movie adaptation of Batman: Year One and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. He also won a Tony award for his debut Broadway performance as President Lyndon Johnson in All the Way, and he reprised the role in an HBO movie based on the play.
Film Roles
- 1998 — Saving Private Ryan as War Department Colonel
- 2000 — The Big Thing as Roberto Montalban
- 2003 — National Lampoon's Thanksgiving Family Reunion as Woodrow Snider
- 2004 — Seeing Other People as Peter
- 2004 — Illusion as David
- 2006 — Little Miss Sunshine as Stan Grossman
- 2011 — The Lincoln Lawyer as Detective Lankford
- 2011 — Drive as Shannon
- 2011 — Detachment as Richard Dearden
- 2011 — Larry Crowne as Dean Tainot
- 2011 — Contagion as Haggerty
- 2012 — Red Tails as Major William Mortamus
- 2012 — John Carter as Colonel Powell
- 2012 — Rock of Ages as Mayor Mike Whitmore
- 2012 — Total Recall (2012) as Vilos Cohaagen
- 2012 — Argo as Jack O'Donnell
- 2013 — Cold Comes the Night as Topo
- 2014 — Godzilla (2014) as Joe Brody
- 2015 — Trumbo as Dalton Trumbo
- 2016 — All the Way (HBO movie) as Lyndon Johnson
- 2016 — The Infiltrator as Robert Mazur / Bob Musella
- 2016 — Why Him? as Ned Fleming
- 2017 — Power Rangers (2017) as Zordon.
- 2017 — Last Flag Flying as Salvatore "Sal" Nealon
- 2017 — Wakefield as Howard Wakefield
Television Roles
- He did indeed guest star in Airwolf.
- 1988 - Raising Miranda as Uncle Russell
- 1994-1997 — Seinfeld as Dr. Tim Whatley
- 1997 — Babylon 5 as Ranger Ericsson.
- 1998 — The X-Files episode "Drive" as Patrick Crump
- 1999-2001 — The King of Queens as Tim Saksky
- 2000–2006 — Malcolm in the Middle as Hal Wilkerson
- 2006–2013 — How I Met Your Mother as Hammond Druthers
- 2007 — Fallen as Lucifer / The Light Bringer
- 2008-2013 — Breaking Bad as Walter White
- 2015 — Sneaky Pete as Vince
Voice Acting Roles
- 1987 — Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise as Marty Tohn
- 1989 — Ai no Wakakusa Monogatari as Theodore 'Laurie' Lawrence
- 1993 — Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers as Snizzard and Twin Man. The original Blue Ranger, Billy Cranston, was named for him.
- 1993 — Moldiver as Launch Control
- 1994 — Macross Plus as Isamu Alva Dyson
- 1994 — Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie as Fei Long
- 1994 — Tekkaman Blade as Sgt. Miles O'Rourke
- 1996 — Eagle Riders as Joe Thax
- 1997 — Armitage III (the OVA and Poly-Matrix) as Eddie Barrows
- 2011 — Batman: Year One as James Gordon
- 2012 — Archer as Tony Drake
- 2012 — Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted as Vitaly
- 2015 — Super Mansion as Titanium Rex
- 2016 — Kung Fu Panda 3 as Li Shan
- 2017 — Injustice 2 as Ra's al Ghul (Trailer only)
- 2018 — Isle of Dogs as Chief
Associated Tropes
- Badass Baritone: His voice is deep, smooth, and can pack a lot of authority.
- Bald of Awesome: When he was doing Breaking Bad.
- Celebrity Resemblance: With his full head of hair, no goatee and wide smile, he is this to Darren McGavin of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, especially with their penchant to capture both humor and seriousness in their acting performances.
