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Bryan Lee Cranston (born March 7, 1956) is an American actor, voice actor, writer and director. He is best known for his roles as Hal in the FOX situation comedy Malcolm in the Middle and Walter White in the AMC drama series Breaking Bad, for which he has won an Emmy Award. Other notable roles include Dr. Tim Whatley on Seinfeld, Kevin James` neighbor in the The King of Queens, Ted Mosby`s boss on How I Met Your Mother, and other roles in numerous movies and television programs.

Cranston was born in San Fernando Valley, California, the son of Peggy Sell and actor Joe Cranston.[1] He grew up in the Los Angeles area, graduating from Canoga Park High School. 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 was his hostage (held at gunpoint). They have a daughter, Taylor. Cranston was previously married to Mickey Middleton, a writer.

He began his acting career after college in local and regional theatres, getting his start at the Granada Theatre in the San Fernando Valley, California. Though best known for his work on Malcolm in the Middle which began in 2000, 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".

His largest role prior to Malcolm 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!, and 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 also appeared in Steven Spielberg`s Saving Private Ryan as a one-armed military officer.

His recurring role as Dr. Tim Whatley, Jerry`s dentist on Seinfeld, earned him some fans. Several episodes focused upon his relationship with Jerry and his paranoia about the dentist, most notably when he becomes obsessed with the notion that Tim and his female assistant were molesting him while he was unconscious during dental surgery.

He has also had a recurring role on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens as Doug Heffernan`s annoying neighbor, Tim Sacksky. He works as a water purifier salesman and in one episode he recruits Doug to sell them as well.

Cranston has directed several episodes of Malcolm in the Middle and received three Emmy nominations for his performance on the show. He also wrote and directed the 1999 movie Last Chance. He appeared in Little Miss Sunshine as a business colleague of Greg Kinnear. 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 recently had a role as Lucifer in the ABC Family miniseries, Fallen.

He has done voice acting for English dubbed anime series, including Royal Space Force - The Wings of Honneamise, Macross Plus, and Armitage III Polymatrix.

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-Fil