Emmy Winner Bryan Cranston Set to Host the Art Directors Guild 13th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards

LOS ANGELES, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--Jan 7, 2009 -- Bryan Cranston, the 2008 winner of the Primetime Emmy as Best Actor in a Drama Series (AMC's "Breaking Bad"), has been tapped to host the 13th annual Art Directors Guild (ADG) Awards honoring excellence in production design set for Saturday, February 14 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Cranston won a Satellite Award last month as Best Actor in a Drama Series from the International Press Academy for "Breaking Bad," while the series was also voted by the American Film Institute as one of the top 10 TV programs of the year.

Eight ADG awards for Excellence in Production Design in categories for television, theatrical motion pictures and commercials/music videos, will be presented, along with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Production Designer Paul Sylbert and a Cinematic Imagery Award going to iconic filmmaker George Lucas. Ron Howard will be presenting the award to Lucas. In addition, five legendary Production Designers will be inducted into the ADG Hall of Fame. They are Ted Haworth, Mac Johnson, Romain Johnston, John Meehan and Harold Michelson. Also, as a highlight of this year's Awards ceremony, the Guild will unveil "The Magnificent 100"-- its selection of the 100 feature films that they consider to display the best production design in theatrical films from 1898 through 2000.

Throughout his career, Cranston has portrayed a variety of diverse roles running the gamut from happy and hairy "Hal" on Fox's comedy, "Malcolm in the Middle," to his current role as Walt White, the mild-mannered chemistry teacher turned drug dealer, on AMC's critically-acclaimed series "Breaking Bad."

Cranston's additional television credits are myriad, from the role of Lucifer on the ABC Family miniseries "Fallen" to the recurring role of Ted's boss on CBS's "How I Met Your Mother." Cranston made viewers laugh on "Seinfeld" as the recurring character of Dentist Tim Whatley. He was also the annoying neighbor Tim Sacksky on "The King of Queens." He appeared in Tom Hanks' Emmy Award winning HBO series "From the Earth to the Moon," in which he portrayed Buzz Aldrin. Cranston has guest-starred on numerous programs such as "Chicago Hope," "The X-Files," "Rockford Files," "3rd Rock From the Sun," and many more.

His feature film credits include the Taylor Hackford project "Love Ranch," in addition to "Little Miss Sunshine," "Seeing Other People," "That Thing You Do!," "Clean Slate," "Kissing Miranda," "Dead Space," "Private Offerings" and "Terror Tract," to name a few. He also appeared in Steven Spielberg's feature film "Saving Private Ryan" as a hardened one-armed Army Colonel.

Voting in all categories will now be primarily conducted online, linked through the ADG website (www.artdirectors.org), or by paper ballots upon request.

Co-Producers for this year's ADG Awards are John Sabato and John Janavs.

Media sponsors are Daily Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Below The Line.

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