Bryan Cranston, famous for playing the bad guy the world loves to hate, Walter White in AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” has spoken about his fantastic trip to his ancestral home of County Clare.

Cranston, born in California, traces his Irish roots through his paternal great-grandmother.

He told the Irish Sun about his family trip “home” a few years ago. He said, “Typical Americans of course, we hadn’t a clue where places were.

“We had a fantastic time, especially in Doolin when we slipped into McConnell’s pub to escape a drizzly afternoon. I was sitting there with a pint of Guinness, when a music session started. There was a baby crawling around the floor after his father went up to play in the session.

“The baby crawled up and sat on my lap while the session went on, as though it had known me all its life.

“When he finished playing, his father came and picked him up. Nobody panicked or over-reacted and we had a lovely, easy going time.”

Also a star of Ben Affleck’s 2012 hit “Argo”, Cranston told Dublin’s Herald newspaper he would love to make a film with Colin Farrell in Ireland. Speaking in Dublin at “Argo’s” Ireland premiere Cranston said, “I'd like to do a picture with Colin and myself on the road where we get to travel through Ireland and I'm like this old cranky guy and he has to take care of me.”

Speaking about where he likes to visit when he’s in Ireland he said, “I know how it sounds but I always try to go to the Guinness factory, have a drop of Guinness and get a bowl of Irish stew and look out on the city. I always try to do that.”

Hardly an overnight household name, Cranston grew to notoriety as the hapless and harmless father Hal in “Malcolm in the Middle.” Now he plays Walter White, the chemistry teacher turned ruthless meth cook and dealer in “Breaking Bad.”

Watched by 500 million viewers worldwide in 159 countries, Cranston’s character and his relationship with his sidekick Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) has clearly struck a chord with viewers.

Speaking about his character to the Sun, Cranston said, “We took a good man and made him bad.

“And in the course of this transition I became very aware sociologically that every single person is capable of being dangerous depending on the set of circumstances that they happen to be involved in.

“That sense of desperation, need, anger, ego, whatever the case may be, if buttons are pushed that person becomes dangerous.

“I tend to think that characters drawn in a one-dimensional way are ultimately not only boring but unrealistic and as humans we are capable of experiencing the full spectrum of emotions.

“So I don’t find it hard for Walter White to kill someone and then go home and earnestly nurture his baby daughter. It’s kind of frightening the way he can compartmentalise his life in this way and justify it.”

Happily Cranston is far from his “Breaking Bad” character. Now filming is completed Cranston is happy to put some space between Walter White and his real life.

Having just finished working on a new “Godzilla” movie and some plays, Cranston said, “It’s great to be tethered to a sane life as your foundation, so that you can go and try weird stuff at work.”

The final chapters in “Breaking Bad” start on August 11.