Giancarlo Esposito has been acting for more than four decades, but it’s been a career of peaks and valleys. He began with supporting roles (or very minor ones) in a variety of TV shows and great movies (Trading Places, The Cotton Club) before appearing more prominently in several fantastic Spike Lee films (School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X) and the landmark show, Homicide: Life on the Street. But there were pockets of his career completely obfuscated by Hollywood, especially in the early-to-mid-2000s, where he could only get single-episode gigs on TV shows or smaller roles in low-budget movies.
This was long before his appearance as Gus Fring in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, which earned him Emmy nominations and universal acclaim. He has starred in 55 films and shows since Breaking Bad ended in 2013. But before being cast, he was in a financially tough spot, turning to dark thoughts in a desperate attempt to care for his family.
“My way out in my brain was, ‘Hey, do you get life insurance if someone commits suicide? Do they get the bread?’” recounted Esposito during an appearance on SiriusXM’s Jim & Sam Show, hosted by Jim Norton and Sam Roberts. “My wife said, ‘Well that’s kind of tricky’ … She had no idea why I was asking her this stuff.” Esposito continued:
I just started scheming. If I got somebody to knock me off, death through misadventure, they would get the insurance. I had four kids. I wanted them to have a life. Like, it was a hard moment in time. I literally thought of self-annihilation so that they could survive. That’s how low I was.
Parish Review: Giancarlo Esposito Is Fantastic in High-Octane Crime Drama
A former getaway driver (Giancarlo Esposito) puts his family at risk after an old friend (Skeet Ulrich) convinces him to do one last job.
Giancarlo Esposito Chose to Live and Found Breaking Bad
A father and family man, Esposito ultimately refused to arrange his own death, fearing that even with the life insurance money, the four children and wife he leaves behind would be worse off without him. “That was the first inkling that there was a way out, but I wouldn’t be here to be available to it or to be a part of it or to be there for my kids,” Esposito said. He added:
Then I started to think that’s not viable because the pain I would cause them would be lifelong, and lifelong trauma that would just extend the generational trauma with which I’m trying to move away from. The light at the end of the tunnel was Breaking Bad.
The role of Gus Fring wouldn’t have even existed, though, if actor Raymond Cruz had to drop out of playing Tuco Salamanca in the second season of Breaking Bad in order to join the cast of The Closer. The writers then sought a new antagonist and drug lord for the show, coming up with Gus and casting Esposito. The character’s immense popularity would lead to whole flashback episodes to further establish his story, and Fring would return to Better Call Saul.
Now, Esposito is back at those shows’ network, AMC, starring in the crime thriller, Parish. He also stars in the inventive new vampire film Abigail, plays Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian, stars in the hit Prime Video show The Boys, and will star opposite Adam Driver in Francis Ford Coppola’s infamous epic, Megalopolis. So, clearly the light at the end of the tunnel led to a beautiful open road.
