Frankie Muniz Says TV Dad Bryan Cranston Still Checks In On Him

Frankie Muniz says he can still rely on his faux family ... 'cause his television father Bryan Cranston checks on him from time to time.

The actor turned racecar driver stopped by the "Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum" podcast where he revealed his TV dad still reaches out to him ... sending him texts pretty often.

Muniz says Cranston really was a father figure to the star since they started working together when he was so young ... and, even though Bryan's now a "Hollywood god," Frankie's still high up his phone contacts.

FM says, "He still reaches out to me every couple of weeks, check in on me. He really cares about what I’m doing, comes to the races, if my band was playing, came to shows."

Frankie adds he feels Bryan's an inspiration to him ... and, he hopes to be the same for someone else one day.

Muniz played Malcolm and Bryan played his dad Hal on seven season of "Malcolm in the Middle" ... being two of the four actors who appeared in all 151 episodes.

Frankie has since left acting behind ... to pursue other interests he mentioned in the interview -- namely music and racing.

Bryan, meanwhile, stunned audiences for five season on the hit drama "Breaking Bad" and in several Oscar-nominated films since 'MITM' ended.