Part of Breaking Bad featuring Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt, and RJ Mitte.
Rise to Fame
She built the kind of theater resume that gets you taken seriously before anyone knows your face. Northwestern, the British American Drama Academy, Shakespeare at the Ahmanson, a Broadway debut in 1997 alongside Roger Rees. HBO's Deadwood in 2004 put her on television's radar, but Skyler White is what made her famous. Playing Walter White's wife meant being the audience's most convenient punching bag for five seasons. She won two Emmys for it anyway.
In the Spotlight
The Skyler White hate got so bad that Gunn wrote an op-ed in the New York Times in 2013 called 'I Have a Character Issue,' arguing that contempt for Skyler was really about the discomfort of watching a woman who wouldn't back down. Vince Gilligan said he was 'troubled' by the backlash. It became a case study in how audiences treat complex female characters. Her post-Breaking Bad career has been quieter. Gracepoint didn't catch on, and Sully and Equity landed without launching a new phase. She keeps showing up, including Apple TV+'s Sugar in 2024.
Side Notes
Her family tree includes William Rufus Day, an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, which is either something she mentions at galas or keeps entirely to herself. More career-relevant: she created the lead role in Donald Margulies' world premiere of Time Stands Still at the Geffen Playhouse in 2009, the kind of theater work that quietly built her before Breaking Bad made stage credits feel beside the point. She's the actress who gets to play morally complicated second leads, which is a calling with a ceiling.