1980–1993: Career beginnings '', 1983 After college, Cranston began his acting career in local and regional theaters, getting his start at the Granada Theater in the
San Fernando Valley. He had performed as a youth, but his show-business parents had mixed feelings about their son being involved in the profession, so he did not act until years later. He also worked as a waiter, night-shift security guard at the gates of a private LA community, truck loader, camera operator for a video dating service, and a CCTV security guard at a supermarket. Cranston started working regularly in the late 1980s, mostly doing minor roles and advertisements. He was an original cast member of the ABC soap opera
Loving, where he played Douglas Donovan from 1983 to 1985. including
Macross Plus and
Armitage III: Poly-Matrix, and most notably,
Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie as
Fei-Long, and the children's series
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Cranston did voice work for the 1993–94
first season of that series, playing characters such as Twin Man and Snizzard, for which he was paid about $50 an hour for two or three hours of daily work. The Blue Power Ranger,
Billy Cranston, was thought to be named for him but this has since proven false.
1994–2006: Breakthrough and Malcolm in the Middle In 1994, Cranston got the recurring role of Dr. Tim Whatley,
Jerry's dentist, on
Seinfeld. He played the role until 1997. In 1996, he played the first of his two biographical roles as an astronaut when he portrayed
Gus Grissom in the film
That Thing You Do!. In 1997, he played a supporting role in the
Michael Dudikoff action film
Strategic Command, alongside
Richard Norton,
Paul Winfield, and
Stephen Quadros. Later that year he had a small role in
Babylon 5 as Ericsson, a starship captain who sacrifices himself as part of a plan to save the galaxy. In 1998, Cranston appeared in the episode
"Drive" of
The X-Files written by
Vince Gilligan. That same year, he played his second astronaut role when he portrayed
Buzz Aldrin in the
HBO miniseries
From the Earth to the Moon. In 1999, Cranston wrote and directed the film
Last Chance. That same year he made his second appearance for a recurring role on the
CBS sitcom The King of Queens, playing
Doug Heffernan's neighbor, Tim Sacksky. In 1998, he appeared in
Steven Spielberg's
Saving Private Ryan, as one-armed War Department Colonel I.W. Bryce, who reported to
General George Marshall that Private Ryan was the last survivor of his brothers, and his assumed location. His theatrical credits include starring roles in
The God of Hell,
Chapter Two,
The Taming of the Shrew, ''
A Doll's House, Barefoot in the Park, Eastern Standard
, Wrestlers
and The Steven Weed Show'', for which he won a Drama-Logue Award. In 2000, Cranston landed a leading role as
Hal on the comedy series
Malcolm in the Middle. He remained with the show until its end in 2006. Cranston ultimately directed several episodes of the show and received three
Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his performance. Cranston reprised his role in a
cutaway gag during the
Family Guy episode "
I Take Thee Quagmire", killing
Lois (his wife on
Malcolm in the Middle) with a
refrigerator door, and in an
alternate ending of
Breaking Bad with
Jane Kaczmarek reprising her role as Lois. He has had guest roles in many television series, including a
white-collar criminal searching for his estranged wife and daughter on
The Flash, and a lawyer attempting to free the title character from a contract in
Sabrina the Teenage Witch. He also had a guest role in late 2006 on the CBS sitcom
How I Met Your Mother, playing
Ted Mosby's obnoxious co-worker and former boss Hammond Druthers. He played
Lucifer in the
ABC Family miniseries
Fallen and appeared as Nick Wrigley, an irresponsible uncle who accidentally brings
Christmas close to destruction when he steals
Santa's sleigh to have a crazy ride, in the 2001
Disney Channel Original Movie ''
'Twas the Night''. In that same year, he provided the voice of Gary's father in
Gary & Mike. He appeared as the more successful business colleague of
Greg Kinnear's character in the film
Little Miss Sunshine (2006). In September 2008, Cranston narrated a pre-teen adventure/fantasy
audiobook called
Adventures with Kazmir the Flying Camel.
2008–2013: Stardom with Breaking Bad and
Vince Gilligan in 2010 From 2008 to 2013, Cranston starred in the
AMC series
Breaking Bad, created by
Vince Gilligan, in which he played the show's
protagonist,
Walter White, a high-school
chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with
terminal lung cancer. Determined to ensure the financial well-being of his family after he dies, Walter teams up with former student
Jesse Pinkman (played by
Aaron Paul), to manufacture and sell
methamphetamine, in the process becoming increasingly ruthless and violent. Cranston's work on the series was met with widespread critical acclaim, winning him the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in each of the show's first three seasons and being nominated in
2012 and
2013 for seasons four and five (winning again in
2014 for the second half of season 5). Cranston and
Bill Cosby are the only actors to have won the award three consecutive times. In 2012, he had supporting roles in
John Carter, ''
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted as Vitaly the tiger, and Rock of Ages, and a major role in the hostage drama Argo. He also lent his voice to several episodes of the animated series Robot Chicken. In 2012, he starred in the remake of the 1990 film Total Recall'', as Chancellor Vilos Cohaagen, the corrupted president of a fictional war-ravaged United Federation of Britain. In the same year, he made a guest appearance as
Kenneth Parcell's step-father, Ron, on the
NBC sitcom
30 Rock, and was invited to join the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
2013–present: Broadway roles and acclaim , Austin in 2016 From September 2013 to June 2014, Cranston played U.S. president
Lyndon B. Johnson in the
American Repertory Theater and
Broadway productions of
All the Way. The play depicted President Johnson's efforts to maneuver members of the
88th United States Congress to enact, and civil rights leaders including
Martin Luther King Jr. to support, the
Civil Rights Act of 1964. The performance has received widespread acclaim with Charles Isherwood of
The New York Times writing, "Mr. Cranston strides onto the Broadway stage with an admirable confidence, meeting the challenge of animating Mr. Schenkkan's sprawling civics lesson as if he's thoroughly at home...Mr. Cranston's heat-generating performance galvanizes the production". He went on to win the
Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for the role. He also played scientist Joe Brody in the 2014 reboot of
Godzilla. From 2015 to 2019 he played Vince Lonigan in the
Amazon Prime Video series
Sneaky Pete. Cranston also served as a co-creator, writer and executive producer on the project. Cranston was on the producing team for the 2015 Broadway production of
Finding Neverland and served as executive producer for the subsequent US national tour. Cranston has produced an instructional DVD called
KidSmartz, which is designed to teach families how to stay safe from child abductors and Internet predators.
KidSmartz raises money for the
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children by donating half the proceeds from sales. Also, following the success of
Breaking Bad, the year 2014 saw reports of Cranston developing new TV projects in collaboration with
Sony Pictures Television. In 2016, it was announced that he would star in an episode of the
Channel 4/
Amazon Video series ''
Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams'', and would also serve as an executive producer on the series. Cranston reprised his role as Johnson in an HBO adaptation of
All the Way (2016), executive produced by
Steven Spielberg. Cranston's performance was widely praised earning the
Actor Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie as well as nominations for the
Primetime Emmy Award,
Golden Globe Award, and
Critics' Choice Television Award. In 2015, Cranston starred as screenwriter
Dalton Trumbo in the biopic
Trumbo, for which he received Best Actor nominations for the
Academy Award,
Actor Award,
BAFTA Award,
Golden Globe Award and
Critics' Choice Movie Award. In 2016, Cranston voiced Li, the biological father of
Po, in
Kung Fu Panda 3. Also that year, he appeared in the films
The Infiltrator and
Wakefield. Cranston's memoir,
A Life in Parts, was published on October 11, 2016, became a
New York Times bestseller, and received positive reviews. In 2017, he voiced
Zordon in
Lionsgate's
Power Rangers, which marked his return to the franchise after providing voices for the
first season. Cranston portrayed the news anchor
Howard Beale in the play
Network, an adaptation of the
1976 film of the same name, in November 2017. The play, with Cranston as star, transferred to Broadway, opening at the
Belasco Theatre on December 6, 2018. David Rooney of
The Hollywood Reporter wrote that "the volcanic Bryan Cranston giving a gut-wrenching performance" as Beale and that "Cranston's magnetic presence has more than enough electricity to surge through the play's weak spots". Cranston received numerous accolades for his performance including his second
Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play as well as the
Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor and the
Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance. ,
Bob Balaban,
Bill Murray,
Greta Gerwig, and Cranston at the
Isle of Dogs press conference at Berlinale 2018|left He acted in the role of Phillip Lacasse, a wealthy paraplegic in the movie
The Upside (2017) along with
Kevin Hart and
Nicole Kidman. He was part of the ensemble cast of the 2018 animated film
Isle of Dogs, by
Wes Anderson, which premiered at the
68th Berlin International Film Festival, where he played the lead dog Chief. Cranston appeared in the ninth season of the HBO comedy series
Curb Your Enthusiasm, playing
Larry David's therapist. In October 2018, Cranston became the voice for a new series of
Ford commercials featuring the tagline 'Built Ford Proud'. In 2019, his production company Moonshot Entertainment signed a deal with
Warner Bros. Television. In 2020, he starred as the lead human, Mack, in the Disney film
The One and Only Ivan. From 2020 to 2023 he had the
lead role in the miniseries
Your Honor, playing a judge and the father of a boy who accidentally kills someone. In 2022, Cranston reprised the role of Walter White during the final season of the Breaking Bad prequel series
Better Call Saul. In 2023, Cranston had another appearance as Walter White, alongside Aaron Paul's Jesse, and
Raymond Cruz as
Tuco Salamanca in a
Super Bowl LVII commercial for
PopCorners. He has stated this could be his final appearance as the character. In 2025 it was announced that Cranston would return to the stage in a
Ivo van Hove directed production of
Arthur Miller's
All My Sons acting opposite
Marianne Jean-Baptiste and
Paapa Essiedu at the
West End's
Wyndham's Theatre. In 2024, Cranston appeared in the film ''
Everything's Going to Be Great. It was also announced that he would star alongside Lily Gladstone in the action-thriller Lone Wolf
, playing a contractor who recruits a troubled veteran for a covert mission. In 2025, Cranston had a recurring role as studio head Griffin Mill in the series The Studio''. In 2026, he had a supporting role as war veteran Dave in the
dark comedy crime film
Chili Finger. ==Charity work==