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Raymond Cruz's Early Life Helped Shape 'Breaking Bad' Character Tuco

Raymond Cruz's Early Life Helped Shape 'Breaking Bad' Character Tuco

Actor Raymond Cruz, who played drug lord Tuco Salamanca, had a childhood not dissimilar to the show

Mischa Pearlman

Mischa Pearlman

Beyond the fact that it's one of the best and most compelling TV series ever made, there are many remarkable things about Breaking Bad. There's the fact that Walter White - aka Heisenberg - is played by Bryan Cranston, the dad from feel-good US kids' sitcom Malcolm In The Middle.

Or the realisation that, if the USA had universal healthcare, the entire premise of the show would be redundant, which is kind of ridiculous when you think about it.

But there's one more thing about the show, which ran for five seasons between 2008 and 2013, that's pretty fascinating - that the real life of Raymond Cruz, who plays drug lord Tuco Salamanca in the series and its spin-off prequel, Better Call Saul, isn't so far removed from that of his character.

AMC

That's because Cruz, who grew up in East LA, was surrounded by gang activity as a child. While most of us are happy playing with toys or watching harmless TV at the age of 12, in an interview with The Daily Beast, ­Cruz revealed how he'd witnessed someone get murdered right in front of him.

"I saw someone get shot in front of me at point blank range and die," he said. "The brains came out the back of his head. I was only 12."

That's not all, either. In the same interview, Cruz explains how he was also confronted with the terrifying effects of PCP, which sort of served as a base for the experiences of his meth-dealing character in Breaking Bad.

"There was one incident that I could relate directly to Breaking Bad and Tuco. When I was 13, the cops were called to our neighborhood because there was a guy who was high on PCP and running around naked. He jumped on the hood of the police car and stomped in the windshield barefoot, and he was completely manic."

AMC

That wasn't all, either - Cruz goes on to reveal two more rather harrowing experiences from his youth.

"There was another moment where we woke up in the morning in East LA and there was just a dead guy laying in our yard. One time, one of our uncles came to visit in a stolen Cadillac in the '80s, and he was a heroin addict from the gang Florencia 13.

"He was high on heroin and trying to sell us the Cadillac. After he left our house, he drove through the neighbor's wall, and then drove down the street."

Cruz - who's also well-known for playing Detective Julio Sanchez in the series The Closer - managed to escape this life by immersing himself in literature. It was when he saw Gregory Peck play Atticus Finch in the movie of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird ­- his favourite book - that he decided he wanted to get into acting.

We're very glad he did - but probably not as happy as he is. Who knows what would have happened to him otherwise.

Featured Image Credit: AMC