Breaking Bad: Giancarlo Esposito Reveals Lowest Point Before Big Break (2024)

Posted in: AMC, TV | Tagged: amc, better call saul, breaking bad, giancarlo esposito, parish, the boys, The Mandalorian

Giancarlo Esposito reflects on his time as a struggling actor raising his family, nearly taking drastic measures before landing Breaking Bad.

While Giancarlo Esposito has played some of the most memorable characters, especially villains on TV, the actor reflects on much darker times back in 2008, a year before his breakout role as Gus Fring on AMC's Breaking Bad, a role he would reprise in the spinoff series Better Call Saul. Esposito, who continued to churn out hit after hit with live-action roles in Disney+'s The Mandalorian, Prime Video's The Boys, and voiceovers in Max's Harley Quinn and Ubisoft's Far Cry 6, reflected on his lowest point that would involved taking out a life insurance policy on himself so his family can be taken care of.

Giancarlo Esposito: His Lowest Point Before Landing 'Breaking Bad'

"My way out in my brain was: 'Hey, do you get life insurance if someone commits suicide? Do they get the bread?' My wife had no idea why I was asking this stuff. I started scheming. If I got somebody to knock me off, death by misadventure, [my kids] would get the insurance. I had four kids. I wanted them to have a life. It was a hard moment in time. I literally thought of self-annihilation so they could survive. That's how low I was," Esposito told SiriusXM's Jim & Sam show while promoting his new AMC drama series Parish. Esposito explained that was part of his plan to climb himself out of near bankruptcy. "That was the first inkling that there was a way out, but I wouldn't be here to be available to my kids," he added. "Then I started to think that's not viable because the pain I would cause them would be lifelong, and there'd be lifelong trauma that would just extend the generational trauma I'm trying to move away from. The light at the end of the tunnel was 'Breaking Bad.'"

The actor, who's been active for over 35 years, appeared in 26 episodes of the Bryan Cranston-starred Breaking Bad, which ran from 2008-2013 and returned for 34 episodes for the Bob Odenkirk-starred Better Call Saul, which ran from 2015-2022. Not only did Esposito play one of the most compelling characters in Gus Fring, but he also made a profound impact in the Star Wars universe as Moff Gideon, the main villain of The Mandalorian who kidnapped Grogu and developed Dark Troopers from his essence. In the Prime Video series, The Boys, he plays Voight International executive Stan Edgar. For more, you can check out the video above.

If you or someone you love needs help, 988 has been designated as the new three-digit dialing code that will route callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (now known as the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) and is now active across the United States.