Bryan Cranston wins Tony for best actor in a play

MARK KENNEDY
AP Drama Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Former “Breaking Bad” star Bryan Cranston, making his Broadway debut, has nabbed a Tony Award.

Cranston — in a role far from TV’s chemistry teacher-turned-meth kingpin Walter White — won the best lead actor in a play Tony on Sunday for playing former President Lyndon B. Johnson in Robert Schenkkan’s “All the Way.”

Cranston plays Johnson during his first year in office following the assassination of John F. Kennedy and explores both his fight for re-election and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

He beat out Samuel Barnett from “Twelfth Night,” Chris O’Dowd from “Of Mice and Men,” Mark Rylance of “Richard III” and Tony Shalhoub with “Act One.”

Cranston, a three-time Emmy Award-winner, has also done goofy comedy in “Malcolm in the Middle.”

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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