For Steven Michael Quezada, the chances of surviving as a professional actor while living in Albuquerque were "zero to none." Here's how he went from breaking even to Breaking Bad.

Q: You went to school to be an actor but ended up making a living as a standup comic. How did that come about?

A: I started writing my own plays and I would sell out but after everything was said and done I'd break even. That's being successful. One of the plays I wrote was called The First Chicano President. This guy who is a comedy producer saw it and said "man you are so funny you should do stand up comedy." I told him he was crazy...After a couple years of starving I thought you know what, um, I'm gonna give it a shot. There was no turning back. I went right straight to headliner.

Q: How does a comic living in Albuquerque end up on Breaking Bad?

A: Now that we're Tamalewood, New Mexico is the hot spot. They came out and cast the pilot and when I walked in I guess I was exactly what Vince Gilligan was looking for because when I left he told them, "That's Gomez. I'm done with that." My family is so happy I'm not on the road and I'm home. I play a lot of golf with Dean Norris. How lucky can a guy be out here in the middle of nowhere?

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Now is your chance to get the inside scoop on Breaking Bad. Got any questions for creator Vince Gilligan? AMC will be sending them his way this Wednesday, March 5. Post your most burning queries here by Tuesday night, and then watch for his answers in an upcoming video interview.

Breaking Bad's Dean Norris talks about jumping from heavies to comedies and shares his DEA rap in this exclusive interview with AMC.

* To view the Breaking Bad main site, with sneak peeks, exclusive video and more, click here. *

Q: What makes you such a good cop?

A: I don't know man [laughs]. I've played a lot of 'em. I think the physicality is certainly a part of it. Also having played so many cops, I've talked with a lot of technical advisers, so I've been able to pick up a lot. Coincidentally, one of my best friends growing up is a cop in Chicago, and one of my other best friends out in LA is a sheriff. So I get to see all the components of that culture. It's fun now to play cops with a little more humor to them, though. They're a little more interesting than just the hardcore guys.

Q: Hank has more than a little humor to him. He's the comic relief. Is that new for you?

A: When I was in college I did a lot of comedy. And when I came to LA -- I guess because of my look -- I ended up doing a lot of cops. I'm not complaining, but I got slotted into those kinds of roles. And then I played a funnier cop in Little Miss Sunshine and a lot of people liked it: I ended up getting called in on comedy movies all of a sudden. I don't know if it opened the door to doing Breaking Bad or not. But when I auditioned for the role, I was sitting in the room waiting to audition and Betsy Brandt was there -- I didn't know her at the time, but we were sitting there. I said to her, 'This is funny, isn't it?' She said, 'Yeah I think it's funny, right?' We were both going back and forth to reinforce each other because at first I wasn't sure. Thank God, she agreed with me because that's the way I played it going into the first meeting with Vince.

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Special Effects Coordinator Dennis Petersen talks about the importance of staging realistic explosions, staying true to character, and what can happen when a watch meets a car battery.

Q. One scene that you worked on that really stands out is Walt's confrontation with Tuco. Can you explain your input there?

A. In the scene, Walt throws a piece of fulminated mercury into the ground and that creates the explosion that blows out the windows and stuns Tuco and his henchmen long enough to give Walt the upper hand. The way the scene is shot, we see Walt throw the crystal of fulminated mercury at the ground inside. Then we cut outside for the filming of most of the actual explosion. We had to wrestle with the size of the explosion and how big we could make it. Of course if it's too big it won't be plausible that the people inside the building will have survived, but if it's too small there's really not much to it dramatically.

Q. How do you film something like that?

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