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Bryan Cranston is proud of his daughter, Taylor Dearden.
The Studio actor praised Dearden, 32, for her breakout role in the HBO Max series The Pitt.
“She’s got a great head on her shoulders, and so I have no worries about her,” Cranston, 69, told PEOPLE at the red carpet of Televerse 25.
Deardon plays Dr. Melissa “Mel” King in the medical drama, which concluded its first season in April 2025 and was renewed for a second season. Dr. King is a second-year resident at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital. She works alongside Dr. Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball) and Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (Noah Wyle).
When asked if he’s spoken to Dearden about the unlikelihood of success as a young actor, Cranston responded, “She’s a very observant young woman, and she saw her mom and I going through our lives, and I was 41 when I got Malcolm in the Middle and had a solid hit show.”
He continued, “Before that, I was a working actor. I did a few series that didn’t last. It’s like it’s up and down and up and down. You just stretch out the dollar to be able to say you’re still an actor.”
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Dearden graduated from USC with a degree in theater and landed a role on a series straight out of college.
The series was Sweet/Vicious, where Dearden played the character Ophelia. The MTV series only aired for one season between 2016 and 2017.
“She was terrific and the show was great,” Cranston said. “But like most shows, you know, there’s something that goes on.”
He adds, “She knows that it’s a long haul. This is a marathon for a career.”
The father-daughter duo has worked together on the set of Breaking Bad.
Dearden appeared in an episode as a high school student, where Cranston’s character, Walter White, teaches.
“She is far beyond where I was in my 20s as far as ability,” Cranston told PEOPLE in a 2020 interview. “She is a super-talented young lady.”
Season 1 of The Pitt can be streamed in full on HBO Max.
