The highest compliment Bryan Cranston can receive has nothing to do with his own acting career.
“The Studio” star was a proud dad on TODAY on June 10 when asked about his daughter and fellow actor Taylor Dearden. She received a host of accolades earlier this year for her performance as Dr. Melissa King on the inaugural season of Max’s acclaimed hospital drama “The Pitt.”
“Well, Taylor is a wonderful, hard-working actor,” Cranston said. “She grew up in this business with my wife and I being actors. And so, we’re so proud of her.”
Dearden is the only child of Cranston, 69, and his wife of over 35 years, actor Robin Dearden. The younger Dearden’s first television appearance came in a role in a 2010 episode of the legendary show “Breaking Bad” starring Cranston.
She also appeared in Netflix’s “American Vandal” in 2018 and three episodes of the Apple TV+ drama “For All Mankind” in 2022.
“When I hear praise for Taylor’s work on ‘The Pitt,’ it means more to me than anything anyone could ever say to me about my work,” Cranston told Craig Melvin, who is a father of two. “You know, you’re a proud dad. And I’m OK. I could retire after you hear that.”
Dearden plays a young resident with a sister who has autism on “The Pitt,” which details a chaotic and traumatic day in an emergency room at a Pittsburgh trauma center. It’s the first day on the job for Dearden’s character, who is neurodivergent.
In real life, Dearden is neurodivergent, which she spoke about with NPR in April in connection to her role.
“I told them that I relate to this character because I see a lot of the neurodivergent parts of Mel as something I experience all the time,” she said about the show’s creator, R. Scott Gemmill, and executive producer John Wells.
She said Wells asked if she was comfortable sharing that part of herself in the role.
“And I realized it’s, like, you know, I can mask only so much, and I’m really ready for people to know,” she told NPR. “I tell everyone I meet because there are certain social behaviors that might seem odd. And so I usually have to tell everyone I meet, like, in case I do this, just so you know, it’s not on purpose. So it was great for them to let it be my decision completely. I feel like it’s the right move.”
Watching his daughter’s career blossom and spending time with family is what led Cranston to declare in January 2024 that he’s planning to “hit the pause button“ on his own career. He clarified previous rumors that he had been planning to retire by saying on TODAY that he more just wants to take a break to spend time with his wife and pursue other interests.
“I’ve been married to the best person in the world for 35 years,” Cranston said at the time. “But she has been the ‘plus one’ in this industry, right, and I want to change that. I want to move that out of that kind of imbalance and go away with her and just kind of … she’s looking forward to having me back, and not having to follow me around.”