he’s an American actor director
screenwriter and producer he’s best
known for portraying Walter White in the
AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad he
won four Primetime Emmy Awards for
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
he’s Bryan Cranston and here are his top
ten rules for success I started working
in this business in 1979 so I’ve been
doing for 32 years about yeah and you
got steady work you had lots of gigs
yeah but but the last ten years have
been just crazy you know I think I think
there is truth in the saying that you
have to know when it’s your time and
sometimes you know people go through
their awkward moments in high school and
they feel gangly and they’re not you
know they’re not sure of themselves and
things this seems to be my time it
waited awhile but I’m glad it’s here
well the best the best advice for fellow
actors
is this know what your job is about 18
years ago I had this cognition that I
realized I was going into auditions
trying to get a job
and that simply wasn’t what I was doing
I wasn’t what I said what I’m supposed
to be doing an actor is supposed to
create a compelling interesting that
serves the text we presented in the
environment where your audition
and then you walk away and that’s it
everything else is out of your control
so don’t even think of it don’t focus on
that you’re not going there to get a job
you’re going there to present what you
do you act and there it is and walk away
when there’s power in them there’s
confidence in them and it’s also saying
I can only do so much and then the
decision of who might get a job is so
out of your control that it can really
when you analyze it it makes no sense to
hold on to that that to me was a
breakthrough and once I adapted that
philosophy I never looked back and I’ve
never been busier in my life and once I
grabbed onto that for me when I first
read the first page of the pilot script
it read just like you saw opened up on a
beautiful setting red mountains trousers
are falling from the sky they hit the
ground an RV rolls over them inside
there’s a middle-aged man only wearing
tighty whitey underwears and a
respirator driving madly in the back –
dead body sliding up and back in a sea
of fluid and glass another man passed
out with a respirator and I’m thinking
what the is going on that was page
one and it took off from there and so it
was it was one of those those rare
moments when you respond to a piece of
material so strongly that I knew I had
to get in as fast as I could to try to
get this role because the the longer I
waited I knew that every actor in
Hollywood would want to would want to be
a part of this unfortunately I was want
to get it
being able to display all that you feel
is not unlike a person wanting to
experience everything in life you don’t
always want to be serious you don’t know
to be silly you want to have moments in
each for me anyway and so that’s why I
look for different projects different
things that take me to more challenging
areas difficult or easy or fun simple
sometimes incredibly complex like
Breaking Bad I had a cognitive moment
when I was 22 years old and my brother
and I were riding motorcycles across the
country for a couple years because we
were both trying to figure out what we
wanted to do with our lives and it was
raining I was on the Blue Ridge Parkway
in Virginia and his raining hard so we
found this little off the beaten path
rest stop that was near a creek and
there was a slab of cement with four
wooden posts and a roof and a picnic
table at this rest stop no one else was
there is pouring rain we pulled our
motorcycles and jumped up the curb right
up onto it it looked like we were gonna
be there for a while so we set up a camp
on this slab of cement and it stayed
there for six days because it didn’t
stop raining and over the six days the
only thing that really got me through
was reading a book of a thick book of
plays it was on a motorcycle so it
couldn’t take a lot so I had this book
of plays and I was reading Hedda Gabler
Epsons had a gobbler at the time and and
all of a sudden it was night falls dark
I went what and I realized wow that went
fast because I was so into the reading
and I thought yeah that would be and it
just went everything lifted and I went
that’s what I should do I loved getting
lost in story so I want to tell stories
and I had done some acting and I thought
that’s what I need to do I need to
follow that lead get involved in
something that I love to do and
hopefully become good at as opposed to
getting trapped into something I happen
to be good at but didn’t love the
success of an actor is being willing to
go into those dark places and and and
display them publicly we have to have
that kind of courage and vulnerability
to do that in high school all the way
through school I remember trying to stay
the same as everyone else I didn’t want
to stand out everywhere wearing that and
this is what everybody else is wearing I
kind of want to I don’t want to be
isolated or ostracized certainly I don’t
want to be embarrassed or have someone
point the finger at you look at that guy
you know no what happens is that we
think that if you are vulnerable and
sensitive and open that you’ll be
ridiculed and but as adults when we
mature what we realize is that if you
have the audacity to display those human
honest emotions that the opposite is
what happens people embrace someone who
is in trouble someone who is vulnerable
someone who is frightened we they they
have a tendency to come forward and put
their emotional arms around you as an
actor you need to to study human
behavior in some ways in order to do
that you test you behave a certain way
and the response to that informs you
whether it’s working or not you know I
think in ways without me consciously
knowing it I’m always kind of
experimenting with characters in waves
and seeing how it feels to be a certain
way
it’s intriguing you surely night was was
interesting because she got me over a
hump where I was putting up resistance
to be you know to say you know I was
getting some work and I was starting I
was working exclusively as an actor
since I was 25 years old 24 years old
I’ve never done anything else from that
point on and I came to her later and I
was working as an actor and she said own
it you know because I was putting it
around I know I don’t want to be I don’t
want to be a star I don’t want to
because let all that go and just again
philosophy let it come in come on it
whatever supposed to happen happens and
let it go you don’t have to hold on to
it and hold a mirror up to yourself but
but just let it let it flow and she she
had a point that was very interesting to
to accept and embrace an actor’s
arrogance and at at first you of
arrogance I don’t want to be arrogant
she goes no but it’s okay because actors
like athletes are the ones who say give
me the ball three seconds left I want to
take the shot or whoever is best to take
the shot you take the shot well we’ll do
all we can to make sure that you get you
know whatever the case but you want that
shot and then there are some kids you
know who don’t give me the poster don’t
send it to me don’t leave it to me I
don’t want that responsibility I don’t
want that pressure and an actor has to
be the type of person says give it to me
let me try this now takes a chance you
have to have a healthy dose of luck to
become successful that’s just the way it
is you can’t you can’t prepare for it
but you can be ready for it if it does
come to you I was very lucky to get that
role on x-files simply because I was
physically in the city where it was
casting and I was out of the city for
three weeks prior and I very could have
easily not been in town and they just go
on and someone else would have got the
role and who knows where I would have
been I certainly odds are very high that
I wouldn’t have gotten Breaking Bad had
I not met Vince Gilligan before
it’s one of those things where you you
have to just do your work do the best
you can and hope for the lucky breaks
here and there in magic the most
important thing to a magician as his
hands you know everything that you do is
based on being able to manipulate and
force all right so this type of stuff it
looks simple but it’s actually me
working for a long time to figure out
how to do this stuff and it’s practice
it’s hours and hours and hours of
practice so the one thing that a
magician I think values more than
anything else is just the hands you’re
gonna be the one picking the cup so that
in for the fate of my hands lies in your
decisions
can you point to one of the four cups
how much is riding on this everything
everything that one yes
oh that was a good guess
I saw your reaction but the truth is
maybe it doesn’t matter one way or
another like ultimately when we watch
magic the problem with this trick is you
don’t want this to really succeed
because no personal curiosity is what
would happen if that went through the
hand oh so you know it really looks it’s
going through the hand yeah
Kenton does it really look like it’s
actually it is yeah oh god no
oh that is true your hand
there’s no blood why good good
just pull back oh oh oh it went through
your hand it feels like I went through
in this is not a glove
it doesn’t retract oh my god wow wow
that’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen
in my life obviously I can’t you’re out
of your mind and the most you’re just
out of your minds I’m in the most
beautiful way possible my God thank you
so much for watching I made this video
because Orion Dark Knight asked me to so
there’s a famous entrepreneur that you
want me to profile next leave it in the
comments below and I’ll see what I can
do
I’d also love to know what your Bryan
Cranston’s top 10 rules meant the most
to you leave it in the comments and I’ll
join in the discussion thank you so much
for watching and continue to believe and
I’ll see you soon
and when you’re playing a guy who’s
afflicted with cancer you know the
people watching the show a lot of your
audience has cancer yeah like that’s
just the nature of this new world we
live in right now how do you play a guy
like that when you know that there are
people who are really feeling it
well the the responsibility of an actor
is to is to be truthful in how you
portray that so one of the one of the
simple things as I knew that when my
character was going to go through
chemotherapy and radiation is that he
would lose his hair so I shaved my head
I also knew that from personal
experience of my family that the
chemotherapy and primarily makes you
lose your appetite and it all tastes
like metal inside when you’re going
through that treatment and so you lose
weight I lost 16 pounds in ten days hard
to do that healthy yeah but I did it
carefully I cut off my right leg and
this is a prosthetic right over there
certainly got down there yeah sixteen
pounds easy just put in a bag put in the
freezer
hello attach it later so no I the time
between when I would have my shirt off
you know when a shower scene or
something before the weight loss and
then when I was going to have my shirt
off again after the chemotherapy and it
was it was 16 days oh it’s in ten days
so that I had to quickly drop that way I
can tell you the the the best lesson
that I’ve ever learned as an actor for
my career is always follow the
well-written word it will never fail you
whatever production you may be in may
not necessarily be ultimately
quote-unquote a success the film role
may not be hit at the box office but
that who cares about that stuff
it’s not that’s not your job to worry
about those things it’s to focus on on
that work and it’s always about the
writing
I have I know that as sure as I’m
sitting here when I when I decide to do
a film or a play or whatever the first
thing I look for is the overall story
how compelling is it how rich is it how
important is it this make a social
statement what it we’re in in line does
this you know rest the next is the text
it’s either the script or the play
itself and they’re not the same make the
distinction between those things because
sometimes you can have a great story
it’s just not fully realized by the the
script it just didn’t quite hit it or
the script was fantastic and I didn’t
think the story was going to be so good
and all of a sudden now it’s clear to me
my question is because I grew up in
Albuquerque what was there any cool
places anything that you liked being
there like how was it my hometown so I
don’t know how’d you like it or did you
have fun there
yeah go and visit your mother once in a
while
that’s
screenwriter and producer he’s best
known for portraying Walter White in the
AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad he
won four Primetime Emmy Awards for
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
he’s Bryan Cranston and here are his top
ten rules for success I started working
in this business in 1979 so I’ve been
doing for 32 years about yeah and you
got steady work you had lots of gigs
yeah but but the last ten years have
been just crazy you know I think I think
there is truth in the saying that you
have to know when it’s your time and
sometimes you know people go through
their awkward moments in high school and
they feel gangly and they’re not you
know they’re not sure of themselves and
things this seems to be my time it
waited awhile but I’m glad it’s here
well the best the best advice for fellow
actors
is this know what your job is about 18
years ago I had this cognition that I
realized I was going into auditions
trying to get a job
and that simply wasn’t what I was doing
I wasn’t what I said what I’m supposed
to be doing an actor is supposed to
create a compelling interesting that
serves the text we presented in the
environment where your audition
and then you walk away and that’s it
everything else is out of your control
so don’t even think of it don’t focus on
that you’re not going there to get a job
you’re going there to present what you
do you act and there it is and walk away
when there’s power in them there’s
confidence in them and it’s also saying
I can only do so much and then the
decision of who might get a job is so
out of your control that it can really
when you analyze it it makes no sense to
hold on to that that to me was a
breakthrough and once I adapted that
philosophy I never looked back and I’ve
never been busier in my life and once I
grabbed onto that for me when I first
read the first page of the pilot script
it read just like you saw opened up on a
beautiful setting red mountains trousers
are falling from the sky they hit the
ground an RV rolls over them inside
there’s a middle-aged man only wearing
tighty whitey underwears and a
respirator driving madly in the back –
dead body sliding up and back in a sea
of fluid and glass another man passed
out with a respirator and I’m thinking
what the is going on that was page
one and it took off from there and so it
was it was one of those those rare
moments when you respond to a piece of
material so strongly that I knew I had
to get in as fast as I could to try to
get this role because the the longer I
waited I knew that every actor in
Hollywood would want to would want to be
a part of this unfortunately I was want
to get it
being able to display all that you feel
is not unlike a person wanting to
experience everything in life you don’t
always want to be serious you don’t know
to be silly you want to have moments in
each for me anyway and so that’s why I
look for different projects different
things that take me to more challenging
areas difficult or easy or fun simple
sometimes incredibly complex like
Breaking Bad I had a cognitive moment
when I was 22 years old and my brother
and I were riding motorcycles across the
country for a couple years because we
were both trying to figure out what we
wanted to do with our lives and it was
raining I was on the Blue Ridge Parkway
in Virginia and his raining hard so we
found this little off the beaten path
rest stop that was near a creek and
there was a slab of cement with four
wooden posts and a roof and a picnic
table at this rest stop no one else was
there is pouring rain we pulled our
motorcycles and jumped up the curb right
up onto it it looked like we were gonna
be there for a while so we set up a camp
on this slab of cement and it stayed
there for six days because it didn’t
stop raining and over the six days the
only thing that really got me through
was reading a book of a thick book of
plays it was on a motorcycle so it
couldn’t take a lot so I had this book
of plays and I was reading Hedda Gabler
Epsons had a gobbler at the time and and
all of a sudden it was night falls dark
I went what and I realized wow that went
fast because I was so into the reading
and I thought yeah that would be and it
just went everything lifted and I went
that’s what I should do I loved getting
lost in story so I want to tell stories
and I had done some acting and I thought
that’s what I need to do I need to
follow that lead get involved in
something that I love to do and
hopefully become good at as opposed to
getting trapped into something I happen
to be good at but didn’t love the
success of an actor is being willing to
go into those dark places and and and
display them publicly we have to have
that kind of courage and vulnerability
to do that in high school all the way
through school I remember trying to stay
the same as everyone else I didn’t want
to stand out everywhere wearing that and
this is what everybody else is wearing I
kind of want to I don’t want to be
isolated or ostracized certainly I don’t
want to be embarrassed or have someone
point the finger at you look at that guy
you know no what happens is that we
think that if you are vulnerable and
sensitive and open that you’ll be
ridiculed and but as adults when we
mature what we realize is that if you
have the audacity to display those human
honest emotions that the opposite is
what happens people embrace someone who
is in trouble someone who is vulnerable
someone who is frightened we they they
have a tendency to come forward and put
their emotional arms around you as an
actor you need to to study human
behavior in some ways in order to do
that you test you behave a certain way
and the response to that informs you
whether it’s working or not you know I
think in ways without me consciously
knowing it I’m always kind of
experimenting with characters in waves
and seeing how it feels to be a certain
way
it’s intriguing you surely night was was
interesting because she got me over a
hump where I was putting up resistance
to be you know to say you know I was
getting some work and I was starting I
was working exclusively as an actor
since I was 25 years old 24 years old
I’ve never done anything else from that
point on and I came to her later and I
was working as an actor and she said own
it you know because I was putting it
around I know I don’t want to be I don’t
want to be a star I don’t want to
because let all that go and just again
philosophy let it come in come on it
whatever supposed to happen happens and
let it go you don’t have to hold on to
it and hold a mirror up to yourself but
but just let it let it flow and she she
had a point that was very interesting to
to accept and embrace an actor’s
arrogance and at at first you of
arrogance I don’t want to be arrogant
she goes no but it’s okay because actors
like athletes are the ones who say give
me the ball three seconds left I want to
take the shot or whoever is best to take
the shot you take the shot well we’ll do
all we can to make sure that you get you
know whatever the case but you want that
shot and then there are some kids you
know who don’t give me the poster don’t
send it to me don’t leave it to me I
don’t want that responsibility I don’t
want that pressure and an actor has to
be the type of person says give it to me
let me try this now takes a chance you
have to have a healthy dose of luck to
become successful that’s just the way it
is you can’t you can’t prepare for it
but you can be ready for it if it does
come to you I was very lucky to get that
role on x-files simply because I was
physically in the city where it was
casting and I was out of the city for
three weeks prior and I very could have
easily not been in town and they just go
on and someone else would have got the
role and who knows where I would have
been I certainly odds are very high that
I wouldn’t have gotten Breaking Bad had
I not met Vince Gilligan before
it’s one of those things where you you
have to just do your work do the best
you can and hope for the lucky breaks
here and there in magic the most
important thing to a magician as his
hands you know everything that you do is
based on being able to manipulate and
force all right so this type of stuff it
looks simple but it’s actually me
working for a long time to figure out
how to do this stuff and it’s practice
it’s hours and hours and hours of
practice so the one thing that a
magician I think values more than
anything else is just the hands you’re
gonna be the one picking the cup so that
in for the fate of my hands lies in your
decisions
can you point to one of the four cups
how much is riding on this everything
everything that one yes
oh that was a good guess
I saw your reaction but the truth is
maybe it doesn’t matter one way or
another like ultimately when we watch
magic the problem with this trick is you
don’t want this to really succeed
because no personal curiosity is what
would happen if that went through the
hand oh so you know it really looks it’s
going through the hand yeah
Kenton does it really look like it’s
actually it is yeah oh god no
oh that is true your hand
there’s no blood why good good
just pull back oh oh oh it went through
your hand it feels like I went through
in this is not a glove
it doesn’t retract oh my god wow wow
that’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen
in my life obviously I can’t you’re out
of your mind and the most you’re just
out of your minds I’m in the most
beautiful way possible my God thank you
so much for watching I made this video
because Orion Dark Knight asked me to so
there’s a famous entrepreneur that you
want me to profile next leave it in the
comments below and I’ll see what I can
do
I’d also love to know what your Bryan
Cranston’s top 10 rules meant the most
to you leave it in the comments and I’ll
join in the discussion thank you so much
for watching and continue to believe and
I’ll see you soon
and when you’re playing a guy who’s
afflicted with cancer you know the
people watching the show a lot of your
audience has cancer yeah like that’s
just the nature of this new world we
live in right now how do you play a guy
like that when you know that there are
people who are really feeling it
well the the responsibility of an actor
is to is to be truthful in how you
portray that so one of the one of the
simple things as I knew that when my
character was going to go through
chemotherapy and radiation is that he
would lose his hair so I shaved my head
I also knew that from personal
experience of my family that the
chemotherapy and primarily makes you
lose your appetite and it all tastes
like metal inside when you’re going
through that treatment and so you lose
weight I lost 16 pounds in ten days hard
to do that healthy yeah but I did it
carefully I cut off my right leg and
this is a prosthetic right over there
certainly got down there yeah sixteen
pounds easy just put in a bag put in the
freezer
hello attach it later so no I the time
between when I would have my shirt off
you know when a shower scene or
something before the weight loss and
then when I was going to have my shirt
off again after the chemotherapy and it
was it was 16 days oh it’s in ten days
so that I had to quickly drop that way I
can tell you the the the best lesson
that I’ve ever learned as an actor for
my career is always follow the
well-written word it will never fail you
whatever production you may be in may
not necessarily be ultimately
quote-unquote a success the film role
may not be hit at the box office but
that who cares about that stuff
it’s not that’s not your job to worry
about those things it’s to focus on on
that work and it’s always about the
writing
I have I know that as sure as I’m
sitting here when I when I decide to do
a film or a play or whatever the first
thing I look for is the overall story
how compelling is it how rich is it how
important is it this make a social
statement what it we’re in in line does
this you know rest the next is the text
it’s either the script or the play
itself and they’re not the same make the
distinction between those things because
sometimes you can have a great story
it’s just not fully realized by the the
script it just didn’t quite hit it or
the script was fantastic and I didn’t
think the story was going to be so good
and all of a sudden now it’s clear to me
my question is because I grew up in
Albuquerque what was there any cool
places anything that you liked being
there like how was it my hometown so I
don’t know how’d you like it or did you
have fun there
yeah go and visit your mother once in a
while
that’s
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