University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Bay City Western High School, Harvard University, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Nationality
United States of America
Spouse
Grady Olsen
Children
Josephine Olsen, Freddie Olsen
Parents
Gray Brandt, Janet Brandt
Nicknames
Betsy Ann Brandt
Awards
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
Movies
Magic Mike, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, Members Only, Claire in Motion, Between Us, Down the Aisle, Shelf Life
TV Shows
The Michael J. Fox Show, Breaking Bad, Life in Pieces
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Quote
1
I'd like to be on the next 'Six Feet Under,' whatever that is.
2
After you leave a show - any show, but for me especially after 'Breaking Bad' - you hope for a job to help soften the blow now that you don't have this amazing job anymore, and you hope that it's good.
3
Everybody - even huge movie stars - have downs. That's just how it is. The work ebbs and flows. My manager and I were saying, 'Let's remember that in 2013 we were soooo busy.' So whenever it is that we're not, maybe it'll come back again. Maybe it won't. But you've gotta love the ride.
4
For me, I need to be able to show up on set and fart around and goof around. If I can have that, when I'm not acting, then when I'm acting I can go however deep and dark and bad I need to. I developed that more with 'Breaking Bad' because I've never worked on anything as dark for as long.
5
I feel 'Breaking Bad' - maybe everybody says this about their show - I feel like this show is so special that I don't 'know' that I necessarily really know what it's like to do a regular show.
6
In high school, a teacher's friend in the police department asked me to go into a bar and flash a fake ID saying I was 21 even though I wasn't. They were assuming the bar wasn't carding people. Anyway, she forgot to ask for it back. I used it all freshman year in college.
7
It'd be great to do some other TV. 'Breaking Bad' is definitely my home, but I'd love to have a nice hiatus gig, like a recurring role. Or to do a good film. I'd like to do a Woody Allen movie. I really didn't have a plan, and that's okay with me.
8
My son is pre-K and my daughter is in elementary school. So they don't watch the show. But my son knows that I'm on it - he says that 'Breaking Bad' is his favorite show even though he's never seen it. It's really great that he says that, because it makes me look like mother of the year.
9
When I read both pilots for 'Breaking Bad' and the 'Michael J. Fox Show,' I turned to my husband in real life, and I'm like, 'That is an amazing script.'
10
For 'Breaking Bad,' it was like, that's one of the best pilots, probably the best pilot I have ever read.
11
I believe gelato is meant to be treated as medicine and taken daily as a prescription.
12
I can tell you, we had a lot of fun at 'Breaking Bad.' You have to.
13
I like 'Mad Men,' and I think 'The Killing' is pretty great too. I like 'Brothers & Sisters.'
14
I love opening night, and I love doing plays. But one of my favorite parts about doing a play or working on a new play is rehearsal.
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Fact
1
On two of her television shows, Betsy's characters had a spouse named Hank. "Hank Schrader" on AMC's Breaking Bad, and "Hank Rizzoli" on NBC's Parenthood.
2
Is of German descent.
3
Was pregnant with her second child while the second season of Breaking Bad (2008) was in production.
4
Has two children with her husband Grady Olsen: a daughter named Josephine Olsen and a son named Freddie Olsen, the younger of whom was born in 2008.
5
Studied at the Moscow Art Theater Institute at Harvard and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.
6
Attended University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, and earned a BFA in Acting in 1996.
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