Happy Birthday: Bryan Cranston

Bryan Cranston

Born: March 7, 1956 in Hollywood, California, USA

Married to: Robin Dearden (8 July 1989 – present) (1 child)
Michaelle Louise (Mickey) Middleton (10 November 1977 – 8 April 1982) (divorced)

(2011, on getting into acting) When I was 16, I joined the LAPD Explorers in the West Valley. Then I went to L.A. Valley College to study police science, and my counselor told me I needed to take some elective courses. So in my second year, I took classes in acting and stagecraft. On my very first day, I walked into class, and there was this 17-year-old girl sitting on the floor, wearing only a tube top and hot pants. I was like “Oh…my…God.” From that moment on, I was done with police work. The girls in theater arts were so much prettier. I changed the course of an entire life based on the libido of an 18-year-old boy. During my first acting class, I did a scene with a girl – a girl I’d never met before – and we were supposed to be making out on a park bench. I was really hesitant about it, but she attacked me. She wasn’t just kissing me, she was deeply tonguing me, arms and hands everywhere. I was so flummoxed, I forgot my lines. Afterward, I was thinking, I need to ask this girl out; she’s obviously really into me. So during the break, I asked her if maybe she wanted to go out sometime, get some lunch or dinner. And she looked at me as if I were a puppy. She was like “Ooooh, sweetie, no, no, I have a boyfriend.” I was devastated, but at the same time, I was like, What a great actress! She totally had me fooled.

(2011, on growing up in the San Fernando Valley) I grew up in Canoga Park, which is in the west end of the Valley. On the East Coast, people had snow days, but we had smog days. I’m not kidding. Every so often, there’d be a smog advisory, and parents would get warnings like “Don’t let your kid go outside!”. That’s a weird thing to hear from your parents. Don’t go outside because there’s too much smog. But sometimes we’d go out anyway. We’d put on our big smog shoes and go traipsing through the smog. We’d throw smog balls and have smog fights. Or we’d build smog men, using carrots for their noses. It was great fun.

SUBMIT your TV PILOT Screenplay or TV SPEC Script Voted #1 TV Contest in North America.

SUBMIT your Short Screenplay or FEATURE Script FULL FEEDBACK on all entries. Get your script performed

FIRST SCENE (first 10pgs) Screenplay CONTEST Submit the first stages of your film and get full feedback!