Bryan Cranston won three consecutive Emmy awards in 2008-10 for his portrayal of Walter White, a terminally ill chemistry teacher who turns to crime on the cable television series Breaking Bad. Bryan Cranston grew up in a family of actors in the San Fernando Valley of California and earned a two-year degree in police science from Los Angeles Valley College in 1976. He turned to acting a few years later, and since the mid-1980s he's worked on TV commercials and series as well as in feature films. His best-known early TV roles were in the daytime series Loving (1983-84), the sitcom The King of Queens (between 1999 and 2001), and then as Jerry Seinfeld's dentist in Seinfeld (between 1994 and 1997). He also played astronaut Buzz Aldrin in the cable series From the Earth to the Moon (1998). Cranston then became a TV star -- and earned three Emmy nominations -- as Hal on the hit show Malcolm in the Middle (2000-06, starring Frankie Muniz). That led to more success in the dramatic leading role of Breaking Bad in 2008. His other TV credits include 3rd Rock From the Sun, The X-Files, How I Met Your Mother and Fallen, and his movies include That Thing You Do! (1996, directed by Tom Hanks), Saving Private Ryan (1998, starring Tom Hanks) and Love Ranch (2010, starring Helen Mirren).

Extra credit: Many sources list Bryan Cranston's birthplace as the San Fernando Valley. But in a 2009 interview with IGN, Cranston says he was "born in Hollywood, believe it or not"... Cranston also wrote, directed and starred in the feature film Last Chance (1999), and directed episodes of Malcolm in the Middle and Breaking Bad... In That Thing You Do! Bryan Cranston plays another astronaut, Virgil "Gus" Grissom... Cranston is married to actress Robin Deardon... Deardon was one of Rita Wilson's bridesmaids when Wilson married Tom Hanks in 1988... As a running gag, Cranston is often seen on screen in his underpants.