Dylan Dreyer’s perception of a big celebrity guest changed significantly once she finally met him.
Dreyer, the familiar face from NBC’s Today, often appears as a meteorologist or on-air replacement host for the show. She is regularly seen hosting Today’s 3rd Hour program.
Due to her involvement with the shows, she meets plenty of celebrities at the studio or elsewhere for interviews and other segments.
She was a celebrity guest at The Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, where she played golf earlier this month.
While speaking with the media there, Dreyer recalled meeting several of her favorite stars.
One of them was Bryan Cranston, whom she revealed she was shocked by upon first meeting him.
Dreyer recalled thinking Cranston was ‘standoffish’
Today’s Dylan Dreyer indicated that Breaking Bad’s Cranston wasn’t quite how she’d expected him to be in person.
“They always say don’t meet your idols because you don’t want to be disappointed, but when people come through the Today show, you want to let them know that you’re a big fan,” Dreyer told The U.S. Sun.
She mentioned, “So often when you meet somebody you think they’re going to be standoffish” or not quite as nice in person.
“I think Bryan Cranston who’s such a big celebrity, I mean, he’s so good at what he does,” Dreyer said, adding, “He’s just like the best of the best, and I thought, sure if he wants to be standoffish, he has every right to be – [but] he was the kindest, nicest person I’ve ever met.”
She mentioned that there wasn’t a “big entourage” with Cranston as he “just showed up” and was “just amazing to talk to.”
In the interview, Dreyer didn’t indicate when and where she first met him. She had a 2016 interview with Cranston and his co-star James Franco on the set of their movie, Why Him?, with Today sharing the segment on YouTube.
Dreyer recalled her interaction with another Hollywood star
“He was in the studio, and I am the biggest Tom Hanks fan, and I was pregnant with my first, so a big ol’ belly,” Dreyer said of the interaction.
She said she was nervous when the award-winning actor first walked in, and she introduced herself.
Dreyer recalled that Hanks asked if she was having a boy or girl, and she told him a boy.
“He replied, ‘Oh, a boy!’ and, you know, our camera guy just happened to capture this moment where his arms are up in the air and mine are on my belly and it was just like me and Tom Hanks, and it was just incredible,” Dreyer gushed.
The Today star said she views stories like that as “so special” to have to tell later.
Along with the two celebs, Dreyer also praised her Today’s 3rd Hour colleagues. She said Al Roker, Sheinelle Jones, Craig, and others “make each other shine” on the show and are like “family.”
“I hope to stay as long as they’ll have me,” she said regarding Today.
Dreyer’s been a meteorologist and news correspondent since 2003 and joined NBC in 2012.
She previously teased taking over Roker’s job as Today’s star meteorologist, saying Roker often jokes she’s “waiting for the day he retires.”