As 'Breaking Bad' nears its intense and climactic Season 4 finale, Bryan Cranston went on 'Today' (weekdays, 9AM ET on NBC) to talk about his character Walter White's descent into meth-dealing gangsterism.

White's de-evolution from a cancer-stricken high school chemistry teacher to a ruthless meth-dealer is rapidly accelerating, and Cranston spoke about what he's learned from playing such a morally ambiguous character. "It really isn't about glorifying drug use or drug making ... it's about a man's poor decision-making. What I've learned from this experience is that anyone, even the meekest person among us, could become a horrible, dangerous person," he told Matt Lauer.

Lauer also asked Cranston about his 'Malcolm in the Middle' days, and Cranston said that after the show ended, he turned down a bevy of "goofy dad" roles so he wouldn't be type-cast. "It was easy to turn it down actually, because the industry has a tendency to want to pigeon-hole an actor ... so as soon as I'm done with something I want to veer off and do something else."