Bryan Cranston, an actor best known for his role as Walter White in Breaking Bad, played the role of a lifetime in a recent interview.

Cranston told David Letterman he was happy to play the role of Walter White, but that it was not what he expected. He had never played a character like him before and the part was hard to find.

The actor said that he did not expect that Walter White would become a household name when he took on the part. He said that he thought it would be something different from his other roles and that it would be interesting to see how people reacted to him playing the character.

But Cranston said that he thinks Breaking Bad changed people’s perception of him and changed the way people saw him as an actor.

When asked if there was anything else about his time on the show that made people view him differently, Cranston said, “I think it’s probably because I’m older now.”

Cranston also talked about how he felt after winning an Emmy for his performance in Breaking Bad, saying, “I felt like I had just climbed out of a cave.”

Bryan Cranston is the American actor who played Walter White in Breaking Bad. He has also starred in Malcolm in the Middle and provided voices for animated films such as Godzilla and Kung Fu Panda 2.

His first professional acting job was at a Disneyland attraction called Adventures Thru Inner Space, where he played an “Atom Mobile” driver.

He got the role by lying on his resume. He put down that he had a background in science, knowing it would help him get the job. You see, Disneyland was looking for actors with a scientific background to help them with their presentation.

His ability to memorize lines quickly came in handy when he missed some key training sessions because he got sick during filming of the show. He needed to catch up quickly on what he had missed, and so he ended up learning more than one of his co-workers’ parts as well as his own.}

Q: How did you become an actor?

A: I was working in a delicatessen to support my family, and the owner of the deli was always telling me how I should be an actor, and he would say, “I’m going to send you to this acting school, and I want you to go.” It was $150 for a six-week session. I thought, “No way.” But one day he said to me, “Bryan, I’m sending you,” and that’s how I decided to become an actor.

Q: That’s hilarious.

A: My father had passed away in 1974, after his third heart attack. He had worked as a distributor for Coca-Cola for many years. He died at 50 years old. I was 19 when he died, so I was the man of my house now. It was just myself and my mom and my brother. And my mother got very ill; she had lung cancer–she’d never smoked a day in her life–and she died in ’76. So now I’m 21 years old and raising my 15-year-old brother by myself in Canoga Park [Calif.] at the time.

I’m working at the deli and going to school

Cranston, 53, has a long history of roles that can’t be pigeonholed as “good guy” or “bad guy,” but he’s never been cast in anything as provocative and intense as Breaking Bad. This year, the show won a Peabody Award for its depiction of a high school chemistry teacher (Cranston) who becomes a meth dealer after he’s diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. The series is filmed in Albuquerque, where Cranston and his costar, Aaron Paul, live with their wives.

Q: You’ve played cops, soldiers and doctors on TV; what was it like to play Walter White?

A: I feel like I’ve been preparing all my life for this role. I’ve certainly done enough research into how the bad guys work. But this is the first time I’ve played someone who’s so wonderfully realized and deep. He starts off as such an underdog, but he’s also very charismatic and charming.

Q: How did you get into character?

A: At one point during the first season, I watched Goodfellas from beginning to end—that was good prep work for me…

This interview is an excerpt from the book, Q&A a Day for Writers. You can purchase the book here.

Bryan Cranston won three Emmys for his portrayal of Walter White on Breaking Bad, and was nominated for two more. He began his career as a stage actor in New York and has since worked extensively in TV, film, and voice-over. In addition to playing Hal on Malcolm in the Middle, he has appeared in Saving Private Ryan, Little Miss Sunshine, Argo, Total Recall (2012), and Godzilla (2014).

I was always a character actor. Even when I was doing stand-up, I would do characters in my act. That’s where I felt most comfortable. The interesting thing is that when you play a character actor on TV, people think that you are that person. It’s an odd thing—people think you really are that guy. It’s bizarre, but it’s kind of fun and cool at the same time.

I started out as a stand-up comedian in Los Angeles when I was 22 years old. In those days, you had to be 21 to perform in the clubs; they actually checked your ID—unlike today, where there are 10-year-olds on stage! I remember being so proud of myself when I got my first gig at the Comedy Store. It was a paying gig—$25 for five minutes of stage time—but I remember getting paid and thinking, “Oh my God! People will pay me for this? This is great!”

My dad worked in the oil fields and my mother was a legal secretary. My father did not have the opportunity to go to college—he never got past seventh grade—so he encouraged us to go to college, which we did