Bryan Cranston
Bryan Cranston in 2010
Born	Bryan Lee Cranston (1956-03-07) March 7, 1956 (age 56) Canoga Park, California, United States
Occupation	Actor, voice actor, screenwriter, film director
Years active	1982—
Spouse	Mickey Middleton (1980s to late 1980s; divorced) Robin Dearden (1989— )

Bryan Lee Cranston (born March 7, 1956) is an American actor. He is also a voice actor, writer and director. He is best known for his roles as Hal, the father in the Fox situation comedy Malcolm in the Middle and Walter White in the AMC drama series Breaking Bad, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series three consecutive times. Since earning critical acclaim while starring in these television series, he has gone on to perform in many feature films.

Early life[link]

Cranston was born in Canoga Park, California, to Peggy Sell, a radio actress, and Joseph L. "Joe" Cranston, an actor and Hollywood producer.^[1][2] His great-grandmother was from County Clare, Ireland.^[3] Cranston grew up in the Los Angeles area, graduated from Canoga Park High School, and earned an associate degree in police science from Los Angeles Valley College.^[4]

Career[link]

Cranston performed as a youth, but his show business parents had mixed feelings about their son being involved in the profession, so he did not continue until years later.^[2]

1982–1999[link]

He began his acting career after college in local and regional theatres, getting his start at the Granada Theatre in the San Fernando Valley. 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". He was an original cast member of the ABC soap opera Loving, where he played Douglas (Doug) Donovan from 1983 to 1985.^[2] Cranston also starred in the short-lived series Raising Miranda in 1988.

His largest role prior to Malcolm in the Middle 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!.

In 1998, he appeared in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan as a one-armed military officer.

From 1994 through 1997, Cranston appeared in the recurring role of Dr. Tim Whatley, Jerry's dentist, on Seinfeld. Several episodes focused upon his relationship with Jerry and his paranoia about the dentist, in bizarre situations such as when he becomes obsessed with the notion that Tim and his female assistant were molesting him while he was unconscious during dental surgery, or when Whatley converts to Judaism and starts telling Jewish jokes while retaining the right to tell Catholic jokes as well (according to Jerry, Tim needs only Polish citizenship for "total joke-telling immunity").

1999 marked his second appearance for a recurring role, on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens as Doug Heffernan's annoying neighbor, Tim Sacksky. He works in marketing then in a later episode as a water purifier salesman and recruits Doug to sell them as well.

2000–present[link]

In 2000, Cranston landed a role on the series Malcolm in the Middle. He would eventually direct several episodes of the series, and received three Emmy nominations for his performance on the show.^[5] Cranston reprised his role in a cutaway gag in the Family Guy episode "I Take Thee Quagmire", killing Lois with a refrigerator door because of her incessant babbling, thus "freeing" himself and the kids.

Cranston wrote and directed the 1999 movie Last Chance.^[6]

Cranston has guest-starred in many television series, including The Flash where he plays a white-collar criminal searching for his estranged wife and daughter; 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 Ericsson, the captain of a White Star vessel ordered into a suicide mission to plant misinformation within the enemy ranks. 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 more recently had a role as Lucifer in the ABC Family miniseries, Fallen.

He 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 appeared in 2007 Academy Award Best Picture nominee Little Miss Sunshine as the more successful business colleague of Greg Kinnear's character.

He has done voice acting for English dubbed anime series, including Royal Space Force – The Wings of Honneamise, Macross Plus, and Armitage III Polymatrix. In September 2008, Cranston narrated a pre-teen adventure/fantasy audiobook called Adventures with Kazmir the Flying Camel.^[7] More recent voice work includes the voice of Jim Gordon in the animated Batman: Year One.

Since 2008, Cranston has appeared in the starring role on AMC's original series Breaking Bad in which he plays Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. His character teams up with former student Jesse Pinkman, played by Aaron Paul, to manufacture methamphetamine. For his work on the series, Cranston has won the Emmy Award^[8] for lead actor in a drama series in each of the first three seasons of the show, becoming just the second person to win the award three consecutive times. The fourth season began airing in July, which was past the May 31 deadline for eligibility in the 2011 Emmy Awards. For the fourth season Cranston also became a producer for the series.

His 2010s work includes a supporting role in the drama The Lincoln Lawyer, and supporting roles in successful thrillers such as Drive and the Steven Soderbergh film Contagion. He has upcoming supporting roles in John Carter and Rock of Ages, and major roles in the Ben Affleck Iranian hostage drama Argo and the Total Recall remake, in which he plays the villain, who is the corrupted president of a fictional United States known as Euroamerica. He also participated in several episodes of the animated series Robot Chicken.^[9]

Personal life[link]

Cranston and wife Robin Dearden, September 2008

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 played his hostage (held at gunpoint). They have a daughter, Taylor Dearden Cranston (born February 12, 1993). Cranston was previously married to Mickey Middleton, a writer.

Cranston played baseball when he was a student.^[2] He is a collector of baseball memorabilia and an avid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. In accepting his third Emmy as best lead actor in a drama series, he thanked his wife and daughter and told them that he loves them "more than baseball".

He resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico.^[10]

Filmography[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bryan Cranston at the Internet Movie Database
• Bryan Cranston discusses Breaking Bad at AMCtv.com
• Bryan Cranston at Emmys.com

Jimmy Kimmel
Kimmel in May 2007
Birth name	James Christian Kimmel
Born	(1967-11-13) November 13, 1967 (age 44) Brooklyn, New York, USA
Medium	Radio, Television, Film, Stand up
Nationality	American
Years active	1989–present
Genres	Observational comedy, Black comedy, Satire, Deadpan
Subject(s)	American politics, Celebrities, Everyday life, Sex
Influences	David Letterman
Spouse	Gina Kimmel (1988–2002; divorced; 2 children)
Domestic partner(s)	Sarah Silverman (2002–2007; 2008–2009) Molly McNearney (2009–present)
Notable works and roles	Creator and Host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC) Creator and Co-Host of The Man Show co-host of Win Ben Stein's Money (Comedy Central) co-host of Crank Yankers
Emmy Awards
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host: 1999 Win Ben Stein's Money

James Christian "Jimmy" Kimmel (born November 13, 1967) is an American comedian, actor, voice artist and television host. He is the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a late-night talk show that airs on ABC. Prior to that, Kimmel was best known as the co-host of Comedy Central's The Man Show and Win Ben Stein's Money. Kimmel is also a television producer, having produced shows such as Crank Yankers, Sports Show with Norm Macdonald, and The Andy Milonakis Show.

Early life[link]

Kimmel was born in the Mill Basin neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn,^[1] the eldest of three children of Joann (née Iacono), a homemaker, and James Kimmel, an IBM executive.^[2][3][4] He is Roman Catholic and, as a child, served as an altar boy.^[5][6] Kimmel is of German and Irish descent on his father’s side and Italian descent on his mother’s side.^[7] His uncle, Frank Potenza, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! as a regular from 2003 until his death in 2011.^[8]

The family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, when he was nine years old.^[2] He graduated from Ed W. Clark High School and then attended University of Nevada, Las Vegas for one year before attending Arizona State University for two years without completing a degree.

Career[link]

Radio career[link]

Kimmel began working in the radio industry while in high school, hosting a Sunday night interview show on UNLV's college station KUNV. While attending Arizona State University, he became a popular caller to the KZZP-FM afternoon show hosted by radio personalities Mike Elliott and Kent Voss in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1989, Kimmel landed his first paying job alongside Voss as morning drive co-host of The Me and Him Show at KZOK-FM in Seattle, Washington. Ten months later, Kimmel and Voss were fired by KZOK (for reasons unknown) and were fired again a year later at WRBQ-FM in Tampa, Florida. Kimmel went from Tampa to host his own show at KCMJ in Palm Springs, California, where Kimmel convinced a young Carson Daly to drop out of college and become his intern. After a morning stint at KRQQ In Tucson, Arizona, Kimmel landed at KROQ-FM in Los Angeles. He spent five years as "Jimmy The Sports Guy" for the Kevin and Bean morning show. During this time he met and befriended a struggling comedian named Adam Carolla.^{[citation needed]}

Comedy Central[link]

Kimmel began his television career as the comedic counterpart to Ben Stein on the game show Win Ben Stein's Money, which began airing on Comedy Central in 1997. His quick wit and loutish everyman personality were counterpoints to Stein's monotone performing style and patrician demeanor. The combination earned the pair an Emmy award for Best Game Show Host.^{[citation needed]}

In 1999, during his time with Win Ben Stein's Money, Kimmel was also co-host with Adam Carolla and co-creator (with Daniel Kellison) of Comedy Central's The Man Show. Kimmel permanently left Win Ben Stein's Money in 2001, replaced by comedian Nancy Pimental, who was eventually replaced by Kimmel's cousin Sal Iacono. The Man Show's success allowed Kimmel, Carolla and Kellison to create and produce, under the banner Jackhole Industries, Crank Yankers for Comedy Central (on which Kimmel plays the characters "Elmer Higgins", "Terrence Catheter", "The Nudge", "Karl Malone" and himself), and later The Andy Milonakis Show for MTV2. Kimmel also produced and co-wrote the feature film Windy City Heat, which won the Comedia Award for Best Film at the Montreal Comedy Festival.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Jimmy Kimmel Live!

In January 2003, Kimmel permanently left The Man Show to host his own late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC. Jimmy Kimmel Live was briefly also broadcast on Irish digital TV channel 3e.^[9] In the April 2007 issue of Stuffmagazine.com, Kimmel was named the "biggest badass on TV". Kimmel said it was an honor but clearly a mistake.

Since the show's second season, it has not actually been broadcast live. This is due to an incident during the 2004 NBA Finals in Detroit, when Kimmel appeared on ABC's halftime show to make an on-air plug for his show. He suggested that if the Detroit Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, "they're gonna burn the city of Detroit down ... and it's not worth it." Officials with Detroit's ABC affiliate, WXYZ-TV, immediately announced that night's show would not air on the station. Hours later, ABC officials pulled that night's show from the entire network. Kimmel later apologized.^[10] The incident led ABC officials to force Kimmel to tape his show an hour before it airs in most of the country to check for offending content.^[11]

Kimmel usually ends his show with, "My apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time." When Matt Damon did actually appear on the show to be interviewed, he walked in and sat down only to be told just a few seconds later by Kimmel, "Sorry, but once again we are completely out of time." Damon seemed to become angry.^{[citation needed]}

In February 2008 Kimmel showed a mock music video with a panoply of stars called, "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck",^[12] as "revenge" after his then-girlfriend Sarah Silverman and Matt Damon recorded a similar video, "I'm Fucking Matt Damon". Silverman's video originally aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and became an "instant YouTube sensation."^[13] Kimmel's "revenge" video featured himself, Ben Affleck, and a large lineup of stars, particularly in scenes spoofing the 1985 "We Are the World" video: Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Cameron Diaz, Robin Williams, Harrison Ford, Dominic Monaghan, Benji Madden and Joel Madden from Good Charlotte, Lance Bass, Macy Gray, Josh Groban, Huey Lewis, Perry Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Pete Wentz, Meat Loaf, Rebecca Romijn, Christina Applegate, Dom Joly, Mike Shinoda, Lauren Conrad, and Joan Jett, among others. After this Jimmy's sidekick, Guillermo, appeared in a spoof of The Bourne Ultimatum, which starred Damon. He was then chased down by Damon as Matt cursed about Kimmel being behind all this. Guillermo also stopped Damon on the red carpet one time and before he could finish the interview he said, "Sorry we are out of time." The most recent encounter was titled "The Handsome Men's Club" which featured Kimmel, along with the "Handsome Men", who were: Matthew McConaughey, Rob Lowe, Lenny Kravitz, Patrick Dempsey, Sting, Keith Urban, John Krasinski, Ethan Hawke, Josh Hartnett, Tony Romo, Ted Danson, Taye Diggs, Gilles Marini, and Ben Affleck, speaking about being handsome and all the jobs that come with it. At the end of the skit Kimmel has a door slammed in his face by none other than Matt Damon, stating that they had run out of time and then Damon continues with a sinister laugh. Jennifer Garner also makes a surprise appearance.

As a tradition, celebrities voted off Dancing with the Stars appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, causing Kimmel to describe himself as "the three-headed dog the stars must pass on their way to No-Dancing Hell".^[14] In the 2008 season of his show, Kimmel started another tradition of ceremonially burning the dancers' shoes after they were voted off DWTS.^{[citation needed]}

Other television work[link]

In Spring 1996, Kimmel appeared as "Jimmy the Fox Guy" in promos on the Fox network.

Kimmel's other television work included being the on-air football prognosticator for Fox NFL Sunday for four years. He has had numerous appearances on other talk shows including, but not limited to, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Howard Stern Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and The Late Show with David Letterman. Kimmel has appeared on The Late Show five times, most recently in 2010. Kimmel served as roastmaster for the New York Friars' Club Roast of Hugh Hefner and Comedy Central Roasts of Pamela Anderson. He has appeared on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, along with his parking lot security guard Guillermo.

In August 2006, ABC announced that Jimmy Kimmel would be the host of their new game show Set for Life.^[15] The show debuted on July 20, 2007. On April 6, 2007, Kimmel filled in for Larry King on Larry King Live. That particular show was about the paparazzi and Kimmel reproached Emily Gould, an editor from Gawker.com, about the web site's alleged stalking of celebrities. On July 8, 2007, Kimmel managed the National League in the 2007 Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game in San Francisco. He played in the game in 2004 and 2006 (Houston and Pittsburgh). On July 11, 2007, Kimmel along with basketball player LeBron James, hosted the 2007 ESPY Awards. The show aired on ESPN on July 15, 2007. Kimmel hosted the American Music Awards on ABC four times, in 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Kimmel guest hosted Live with Regis and Kelly during the week of October 22, 2007 – October 26, 2007, commuting every day between New York and Los Angeles. In the process, he broke the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest distance (22,406 miles (36,059 km)) travelled in one work week.^[16]

Kimmel has performed in several animated films, often voicing dogs. His voice appeared in Garfield and Road Trip, and he portrayed Death's Dog in the Family Guy episode "Mr. Saturday Knight"; Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane later presented Kimmel with a figurine of his character on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Kimmel also did voice work for Robot Chicken. Kimmel's cousin "Sal" (Sal Iacono) has accepted and won a wrestling match with WWE superstar Santino Marella. On January 14, 2010, in the midst of the 2010 Tonight Show host and time slot conflict, Kimmel was the special guest of Jay Leno on The Jay Leno Show's "10 at 10" segment. Kimmel derided Leno in front of a live studio audience for taking back the 11:35 pm time slot from Conan O'Brien, and repeatedly insulted Leno. He ended the segment with a plea that Leno "leave our shows alone," as Kimmel and O'Brien had "kids" while Leno only had "cars".^[17]

Kimmel also made a brief appearance in the TV commercial "There's A Soldier In All Of Us" promoting the 2010 video game Call of Duty: Black Ops, along with Kobe Bryant. He is seen taking cover from bullets, then firing an RPG-7 with the words PROUD N00b on it, with the aftershock from the weapon sending him tumbling backwards.