Bryan Cranston discusses his acting career, thoughts on retirement: 'It's still a blast'

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‘Breaking Bad’ star Bryan Cranston opens up about his acting career

Actor Bryan Cranston is the ‘Power Player of the Week.’

Bryan Cranston discussed his successful acting career and his thoughts on retirement during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday." 

The actor, best known for his role as Walter White on "Breaking Bad," was the Power Player of the Week and sat down for a brief interview with Chris Wallace about how he got his start and where he sees his career taking him in the future. 

"From the time I was 25 years old, I was making a living as an actor and that really was my goal," he explained. "Once that happened, whatever happens on top of making a living is just gravy."

The star went into the business with significantly lower expectations than his father. He even explained that he had a fallback option to be a police officer in Los Angeles.

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"My dad was an actor," he said. "He really wanted to be a star and when he didn’t become a star, it really kind of destroyed him. So, I wasn’t going to be an actor. I was going to become a police officer here in Los Angeles." 

Fortunately, Cranston managed to reach career heights neither he nor his dad ever expected thanks to the breakout role of Tim Whatley, an eccentric and often hard to read dentist, on "Seinfeld."

Speaking to Wallace, Cranston called the role "permission to go to comedy camp."

Bryan Cranston discussed his career and thoughts on retirement in a recent interview on 'Fox News Sunday.' (Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

He took the lessons he learned as Whatley over to "Malcolm in the Middle" where he spent seven seasons playing the sitcom family’s father, Hal. From there, he pivoted hard away from comedy to play the role that earned him four Emmy Awards — Walter White. 

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Despite being heralded for his performance, Cranston remains humble and chalks it all up to the material he was given.

"The most underrated element in all of performance art is the writing," he said. "I always say this, if Meryl Streep got C-level material, she could bring it up to a B, but that’s it. When you get A-level material, as I was handed in ‘Breaking Bad,’ you get a little nervous. You’re like, ‘Oh, I can’t mess this up now.’"

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The actor, who currently stars on the drama "Your Honor" says that, although he’s no longer looking at acting as a way to make a living, he still has no plans to stop any time soon.

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"It’s a blast! It’s a blast," he said of the craft. "I love what I do. I love acting. I’ll leave when it stops being fun, but right now it’s still a blast. So I’ll still do it as long as people will  have me."