Gustavo "Gus" Fring | |
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Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul character | |
First appearance | "Mandala" (Breaking Bad) "Witness" (Better Call Saul) |
Last appearance | "Face Off" (Breaking Bad) |
Created by | Vince Gilligan |
Portrayed by | Giancarlo Esposito |
Information | |
Occupation |
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Nationality | Chilean American |
Gustavo "Gus" Fring is a fictional character in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, played by Giancarlo Esposito. Fring is a prominent methamphetamine distributor in the Southwestern United States, who uses several legitimate businesses, including a chain of successful fast food fried chicken restaurants called Los Pollos Hermanos and an industrial laundry facility called Lavanderia Brillante, as fronts for a vast drug operation. Gus maintains a positive exterior; he takes an active role in managing his front businesses and is a booster for the DEA, making large donations to the agency's Albuquerque office. However, Gus is ruthless and Machiavellian in managing his vast drug empire. He employs a number of enforcers and has personally killed rivals and associates.
For his portrayal of Gus, Esposito won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series at the 3rd Critics' Choice Television Awards and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards. Paste ranked Fring number 3 in its list of the 20 Best Characters of 2011.TV Guide named him #3 in their 2013 list of The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time, and in 2016, Rolling Stone ranked him #7 of their "40 Greatest TV Villains of All Time".