What Happened To The Actor Who Played Marie On Breaking Bad?

In January 2008, AMC premiered a new series about a chemistry teacher who, after a cancer diagnosis, decides to embark on a new career making meth to support his family. The series, of course, was "Breaking Bad," and creator Vince Gilligan brought the idea to fruition over five seasons.

In addition to Gilligan's genius, the success of the series also came from its cast of actors who, despite building substantial back catalogs, hadn't necessarily found massive mainstream success. One of those actors was Betsy Brandt, who played Marie Schrader, Walter White's sister-in-law. Before signing on to "Breaking Bad," she'd never been a series regular. She'd been making the prime-time rounds, guest-starring on shows like "NCIS," "ER," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," and "Boston Legal," but none of those appearances had lasted longer than an episode. "Breaking Bad" upped Brandt's profile in a big way.

"It changes how you look at other projects that come up," Brandt told VH-1. "I told Vince Gilligan, 'That may be the only way in which you've 'wronged' me. You have made me so much pickier.' And that's probably true for all of us. You look at anything and you're like, 'Is this as good as Breaking Bad?'"

When Walter White's crime empire came crumbling down, Brandt took her newfound fame and promptly turned it into a formidable filmography. But not everything she's touched has gotten quite as big as "Breaking Bad," so it's highly possible that many viewers may not realize what she's been doing since. Here's how Betsy Brandt has been keeping busy.

When it was announced that "Breaking Bad" was going to conclude with its fifth season, Betsy Brandt didn't let any moss grow under her feet. She quickly began the hunt for a new gig, and promptly found one as Michael J. Fox's TV wife. Indeed, Brandt was actually shooting the pilot for the aptly named "The Michael J. Fox Show" while she was still shooting "Breaking Bad."

"[The Breaking Bad cast and crew] were all at dinner for my birthday and I said, 'I feel like I'm cheating on all of you!'" Brandt told Channel Guide in 2013. "Dean [Norris] thought that was hilarious. He said, 'You tell that Michael J. Fox to back off! This show isn't over and that means the divorce isn't final yet.' I said, 'I was thinking about you the whole time, baby!'"

Although "The Michael J. Fox Show" only ran for one season, Brandt enjoyed her time on the series. While Fox's health issues have caused him a lot of tragedy, the pair had a great time working together. "I'd do anything for him or with him," she told That Thing They Did in 2023. "He spoiled me, for sure. Because, like, a lot of people who are funny are really dark. And Michael made dark jokes, but he's insanely smart and ridiculously kind. So we had a great time on set. He's so generous, he'll never fight you for a laugh, so I was, like, 'Great! This comedy thing is fun!'"

There's a distinct advantage to being a series regular whose role isn't necessarily the center of every episode. As Walter White's sister-in-law, Marie wasn't pivotal to every scene, and Betsy Brandt was actually able to guest-star in other series while "Breaking Bad" was still filming. That's how she wound up appearing on the NBC family drama "Parenthood," playing Sandy, the ex-wife of Hank (Ray Romano).

Brandt made her "Parenthood" debut during the fourth season of the series, appearing in an episode entitled "Trouble in Candyland," only for her character to head off to Minnesota with her daughter Ruby in tow. It sets up a situation where, at the end of season four, Hank — who's been forging a relationship with Sarah Braverman (Lauren Graham) — decides to move to Minnesota as well, hoping to strengthen his relationship with Ruby. At the beginning of season five, however, Hank moves back and eventually renews his relationship with Sarah, but as season six kicks off, Sandy reenters the picture and tells Hank that she wants to share custody of Ruby with him, creating an awkward dynamic that made for gripping viewing.

"It's good to be a troublemaker sometimes," Brandt told Celebified in 2014. "I can imagine I'll get some nice fan mail about my character on that show! But I love playing her. It's really fun. And it's just so good. I'm such a fan of that show."

Before every TV season, networks produce a certain number of pilots in order to determine what series will grace their prime-time lineups in the fall. Some make it onto the schedule, some don't, but it's relatively rare for a show to be picked up straight to series — i.e., without even making a pilot — only to be dropped before a single episode airs. Such, however, was the case with ABC's "Members Only," which was positioned to be Betsy Brandt's next full-time gig after the demise of "The Michael J. Fox Show." 

Created by David O. Russell ("American Hustle") and Susannah Grant ("Erin Brockovich"), "Members Only" was supposed to be a soap set at a private country club  set to star Brandt alongside John Stamos, Natalie Zea, Callie Hernandez, Boris Kodjoe, and Jamie Lee Kirchner, among others. The first episode was directed by R.J. Cutler, who at the time was best known for having directed the pilot for the instantly popular ABC series "Nashville." So, what happened? The best guess is that it was tied to Russell dropping out of the project, but whatever the reason, the news of the series' demise threw Brandt for a loop.

"That surprised me," she admitted to That Thing They Did. "In a way, not a lot surprises me anymore in this business. And I was, like, 'Really?!' Maybe I should've seen it coming, but I totally didn't."

Prior to "Breaking Bad," Betsy Brandt's film career was limited to a handful of small roles, but that began to change in 2012, when director and "Breaking Bad" fan Steven Soderbergh reached out and invited her to take on a small role in his 2012 film, "Magic Mike" — a film with many details only women will notice. Granted, that didn't really change her cinematic fortunes, but a few years after wrapping up her role as Marie Schrader, Brandt found herself stepping into her very first leading role, starring as the titular character in 2016's "Claire in Motion." 

Co-directed by Annie J. Howell and Lisa Robinson, who also jointly penned the screenplay, "Claire in Motion" focuses on the aforementioned Claire as she deals with the fallout from her husband's disappearance after a hiking expedition. "My favorite thing about playing this character was that Claire would continue to surprise me — and that says a lot for a script I read multiple times before shooting," Brandt told Salon in 2017. "I cried a lot filming 'Claire in Motion,' and I was living Claire's life and I couldn't get away from her. I remember feeling that I loved her so much and I wanted to do her justice."

It's fair to say that she succeeded: After premiering at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival and getting nominated for the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature, the film received a joint theatrical and on-demand release, with Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com writing, "Betsy Brandt gives a compelling performance as the title character whose spirit is slowly breaking."

Having proven on "The Michael J. Fox Show" that she could hold her own in a sitcom, Betsy Brandt's next full-time TV gig was playing Heather Hughes on the CBS ensemble comedy "Life in Pieces." The cast was flush with talent anyone would be lucky to star alongside, including James Brolin, Dianne Wiest, Colin Hanks, Thomas Sadoski, Zoe Lister-Jones, Dan Bakkedahl, and Hunter King, who has a few Hallmark Hunk's she'd love to work with. The show also saw legends like Fortune Feimster, Jordan Peele, Martin Mull, Mercedes Ruehl, Meghan Mullally, Nick Offerman, and Josh Groban appear in small and recurring roles. 

"I have to say the fact that the cast is so huge on 'Life In Pieces' and that we all really like each other and feel like a family, it's a rarity," Brandt told PopWrapped in 2017. "So I'm knocking on wood, but I said from the pilot, 'I could do this show for a good long time.' I love, love, love the cast. They're so talented and also just a ton of fun, and very kind. It's just a privilege to work on a show like that."

Apparently, Brandt's wood-knocking paid off, at least to a certain degree: "Life in Pieces" ran for a respectable four seasons before finally coming to a conclusion after 79 episodes.

Midway through the sixth season of the USA Network series "Suits," actress Gina Torres — who's had a stunning transformation — found her character, Jessica Pearson, spun off onto her own series, aptly titled "Pearson." Leaving the firm in the ostensibly capable hands of Harvey Specter and Louis Litt, "Pearson" sees Jessica move to Chicago, where she works as a "fixer" for Mayor Bobby Novak. A few months before "Pearson" premiered, it was announced that Betsy Brandt had been added to the cast in the role of Stephanie Novak, a former lawyer who has since left the bar behind to become the mayor's long-suffering wife and the mother of his two kids. A recent MS diagnosis adds even more complex layers to Brandt's character's narrative.

"I recur on the show, and I have to tell you, I'm having the time of my life," Brandt told Sheryl Lee Ralph in an interview for KTLA. "I shot it while I was doing 'Life in Pieces,' and it couldn't have been more different and incredibly fun to do."

Despite the incredible buzz surrounding "Suits" at the time, "Pearson" failed to capture an audience: the series ran for only 10 episodes before USA pulled the plug.

There's a lot people don't know about Bob Odenkirk, but when AMC announced "Better Call Saul," a prequel to "Breaking Bad" revolving around Odenkirk's deliciously slimy attorney character, many people wanted to know whether we'd see some familiar faces on the new show. The answer, of course, was "yes," but those hoping to see Betsy Brandt reprise the role of Marie Schrader ended up having to wait until the final episode of the series. 

That's not to say that there hadn't been talk of bringing her in sooner. In fact, the original plan had been for Marie to appear in the Season 2 finale as the person giving Chuck (Michael McKean) his CAT scan. As executive producer Peter Gould told EW, "You can't do a Betsy Brandt scene without having a great Marie moment, and how are we going to make that a great Marie moment and still keep the focus ... on Chuck?" Well, they couldn't. So, they worked her into the series finale instead. The finale took place after the events of "Breaking Bad," which meant it took place after Marie's husband Hank Schrader's murder. As such, Brandt was given one of the more emotional scenes in the episode, where she accuses Saul of playing a part in her husband's death.

"It was like putting on your favorite sweater that you forgot how much you loved," Brandt told Variety. "The way they brought her back, she's grown up a lot since we saw her. I love the dignity that they gave her. It was everything I wanted for my character as an actor."

In 2023, Betsy Brandt starred in the Hulu series "Saint X," based on the novel of the same name by Alexis Schaitkin. The psychological drama follows Emily Thomas (Alycia Debham-Carey) on her quest to find out the truth about what happened to her older sister Alison (West Duchovny), who was brutally murdered and raped on a family trip to the Caribbean two decades prior. Brandt played Mia Thomas, Emily and Alison's mother. And while West Duchovny has transformed in real time, Brandt needed quite a bit of makeup to look older as she bounced between present-day and flashback scenes. Despite the fact that Brandt told That Thing They Did the makeup was tough to remove, she dove headfirst into the role.

"My first thought was, 'I need to do it,'" Brandt told Screen Rant Plus. "Because it's something every parent thinks about, and once I read the book, I was, like, 'I have to.' And I also try and take care of myself, because I know how invested I get when I'm working on something, and it was, like, 'Okay, do I really want to go there? Do I really want to do that to myself?'"

Brandt successfully braved the emotional nature of the role, makeup and all. Though the eight-episode series wasn't what you'd call a critical success, you might not want to trust the critics on this one: The audience score for "Saint X" on Rotten Tomatoes sits at 83% as of this writing.

After almost 2 ½ of marriage, Betsy Brandt filed for divorce from her husband, Grady Olsen, on December 26, 2024. Per court documents obtained by PEOPLE Magazine, Brandt and Olsen separated in August 2023, more than a year before the formal filing. Brandt cited the reason for the divorce as irreconcilable differences, indicating that she was seeking legal and physical custody of the couple's son, August, and that the couple still needed to divide their property.

As the Daily Mail pointed out, Brandt opted to file without the help of an attorney — a similar decision to the one made by Jennifer Lopez when she filed for divorce from Ben Affleck earlier in 2024. However, Brandt and Olsen have kept their proceedings a little bit more low profile than that Hollywood power couple: To date, neither Brandt nor Olsen has made any public comment about their divorce.

While it might not be an actual dream of every actor to star in their very own Lifetime movie, it certainly qualifies as a rite of passage — and Brandt can check off that particular box twice. 

First, in 2017, Brandt, Marin Ireland, Jill Scott and Queen Latifah — whose stage name has an interesting meaning — starred in "Flint," a film about the activists who fought to expose the lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan's water supply. Directed by Bruce Beresford, the TV movie was nominated for two Image Awards, a Critics' Choice Television Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Then, in 2024, Brandt co-starred with Mark Chapman and Chloe Coco Chapman in "The Bad Orphan," a movie which many speculated was inspired by the Natalia Grace story. 

"I remember when that story came out, and I was like, 'Oh my God,'" Brandt said of Grace while speaking to Entertainment Tonight. "For me, the interesting thing about the true story was that here's this couple, you think you're in one situation and it turns out you're in something way over there. Lifetime just took that [premise] and then just ran with it."

While Brandt acknowledged there are similarities between Grace's history and "The Bad Orphan," she insisted that the film's plot is original.