Though it’s been nearly two decades since Malcolm in the Middle came to an end, Frankie Muniz says his TV dad, Bryan Cranston, still checks in on him.
“He still reaches out to me every couple of weeks [to] check in on me,” Muniz said of Cranston. “He really cares about what I’m doing, comes to the races, if my band was playing, came to shows. I mean, he’s such an inspiration, and like I said, that’s what I strive to be that for someone else in the future.”
Malcolm in the Middle ran for seven seasons from 2000 to 2006. Cranston played Hal, the father of Muniz’s Malcolm and his siblings.
Muniz said he began working with Cranston “when I was 11, 12 years old” and that “he really became like a father figure to me. And then even still to this day, you know, he’s essentially like a Hollywood god at this point. You know what I mean? Like he’s done incredible films, incredible shows, won tons of awards. Like he’s literally It.”
Though Muniz has appeared in some TV shows in recent years, his focus has now turned to his NASCAR aspirations. Recently, he shared his own parental perspective on Hollywood, saying he “would never let my kid go into the [entertainment] business.
Muniz shares a 3-year-old son, Mauz, with his wife, Paige Price.
“Not that I had a negative experience, because to be honest, my experience was 100 percent positive. But I know so many people, friends that were close to me, that had such insanely negative experiences,” he said.
“I just think it’s an ugly world in general,” he added. “I never cared about rejection, but there’s a ton of rejection.”
