Claim: Bryan Cranston played the protagonist on the television series Breaking Bad.

Bryan Lee Cranston -LRB- born March 7 , 1956 -RRB- is an American actor , voice actor , screenwriter , director and producer . He is best known for portraying Walter White on the AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad , Hal on the Fox comedy series Malcolm in the Middle , and Dr. Tim Whatley in five episodes of the NBC comedy series Seinfeld .   For Breaking Bad , Cranston won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series four times -LRB- 2008 -- 2010 , 2014 -RRB- , including three consecutive wins -LRB- the second time in television history after Bill Cosby in I Spy during the 1960s -RRB- . After becoming one of the producers of Breaking Bad in 2011 , he also won the award for Outstanding Drama Series twice .   Cranston was also nominated three times for the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in Malcolm in the Middle . His role in Breaking Bad also earned him five Golden Globe nominations and one win in 2014 , nine Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations with four wins , and six Satellite Awards nominations with four wins . In June 2014 , he won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his portrayal of Lyndon B. Johnson in the play All the Way on Broadway . He reprised his role in the television film of the same name , which debuted on HBO in May 2016 . For the film Trumbo -LRB- 2015 -RRB- , he received widespread acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor .   Cranston has directed episodes of various television series , including seven episodes of Malcolm in the Middle , three episodes of Breaking Bad , two episodes of Modern Family and one episode of The Office . He has also appeared in several acclaimed films such as Saving Private Ryan -LRB- 1998 -RRB- , Little Miss Sunshine -LRB- 2006 -RRB- , Drive -LRB- 2011 -RRB- , Argo -LRB- 2012 -RRB- and Godzilla -LRB- 2014 -RRB- . In 2015 , Cranston , together with David Shore , executive produced and wrote the story for the Amazon Studios original crime drama Sneaky Pete , the pilot episode of which aired on August 7 , 2015 .