Bob Odenkirk has achieved one of the more improbable small-to-big screen transitions in recent years. He was only meant to stick around for four episodes as shady lawyer Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad. Instead, creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould liked what they saw and he became a series regular – and, after that, the unlikely centre of Better Call Saul, widely regarded as one of the finest spin-offs ever made.

In 2021, he then popped up as a mild-mannered family man turned bone-crunching action hero in Nobody, a role for which he buffed up for two years. Released during Covid, Nobody was unexpectedly successful, leading to a sequel. Now he’s testing his knack for making deeply questionable characters oddly endearing by playing a dodgy small-town sheriff in Ben Wheatley’s new film, Normal, alongside Henry Winkler as the town mayor.

Odenkirk actually started out as a writer, honing his comic instincts on Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Conan O’Brien and The Ben Stiller Show, while quietly building an acting CV. He began in bit parts, playing Concert Nerd in Wayne’s World, Bookstore Man in The Truth About Cats & Dogs and Dog Groupie in Dr Dolittle 2, and popped up on TV in everything from Roseanne to Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development and The American Office. He also had a recurring role in The Larry Sanders Show as Larry’s agent. Alongside David Cross, he co-created and starred in the cult sketch series Mr Show, which ran on HBO from 1995 to 1998, helping to redefine alt-comedy on US TV.

Now firmly established as a leading man – albeit an unconventional one – Odenkirk continues to toggle between comedy and drama, sometimes within the same scene. He played the US president in romantic comedy Long Shot with Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron, a kindly father in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women and, more recently, a conniving boyfriend in The Bear. He’s also – bizarrely – an 11th cousin to King Charles. Whether that means we have to curtsey when we meet him, we don’t yet know.

Bob’s here to answer your questions on everything from squat cobblers to Chicago sunroofs, so post them by 6pm Monday 11 April, and we’ll print his answers shortly after as part of our reader interview series.