While Black fans were already very familiar with award-winning actor Giancarlo Esposito’s work, he achieved a new level of mainstream popularity and acclaim as “Breaking Bad’s” Gus Fring. However, like the characters on that show, desperation drove him to make a wild decision.
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Back in 2008, before he landed the role of the fascinating villain, things weren’t going well for the actor and he found himself near bankruptcy. To make sure his family was taken care of, he began questioning his then-wife about different life insurance policies because father worked in the business.
“My way out in my brain was: ‘Hey, do you get life insurance if someone commits suicide? Do they get the bread?’ She had no idea why I was asking her this stuff,” Esposito told SiriusXM’s “Jim & Sam Show.” “I started scheming. If I got somebody to knock me off, death by misadventure, [my kids] would get the insurance. I had four kids. I wanted them to have a life. It was a hard moment in time. I literally thought of self-annihilation so they could survive. That’s how low I was.”
If this sounds like the plot to one of his many television series, it’s because it comes very close. The idea of doing anything to protect his family is what drew him to his new AMC drama “Parish.” In the end, it was that same desire to protect his kids that led him to move on from the crazy plan. He didn’t want to leave them with the trauma that would surely accompany his murder.
“That was the first inkling that there was a way out, but I wouldn’t be here to be available to my kids,” he said. “Then I started to think that’s not viable, because the pain I would cause them would be lifelong, and there’d be lifelong trauma that would just extend the generational trauma I’m trying to move away from.”
Thankfully, Esposito landed on “Breaking Bad,” which led to unforgettable performances in “The Boys” and “The Mandalorian.” He can currently be seen in “Parish,” Netflix’s action series “The Gentlemen” and the horror film “Abigail.”
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