Jon Hamm

Jonathan Daniel Hamm was born in St. Louis, Missouri. His parents divorced when he was two, and his mother died of colon cancer when he was 10. He later lived with his father and grandmother, and his father died during Hamm's sophomore year of college. Hamm has described John Burroughs School as a place that provided stability during a difficult period.

Hamm participated in football, baseball, swimming, and school theater. His first acting role was Winnie-the-Pooh in a first-grade production, and he played Judas in Godspell at 16. He initially attended the University of Texas, then transferred to the University of Missouri, where he became active in the theater program and performed as Cliff in Cabaret and Leon Czolgosz in Assassins. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in English in 1993.

While at the University of Texas in 1990, Hamm was arrested with seven other students in connection with a fraternity hazing incident involving fellow student Mark Allen Sanders. Hamm admitted the crime and entered a deferred-adjudication plea agreement. The assault charges were later dismissed, and the university's Sigma Nu chapter was disbanded.

After graduating, Hamm taught eighth-grade drama at John Burroughs School for two years. One of his students was Ellie Kemper, who later became an actor and appeared with Hamm in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Hamm also formed a friendship with actor Paul Rudd while living in St. Louis.

Hamm moved to Los Angeles in 1995 to pursue acting. He worked as a waiter while auditioning and performed with theater companies, including the Sacred Fools Theater Company in Timon of Athens. After several years without an acting job, he set himself a deadline of turning 30 to establish a career in Hollywood.

His first substantial television opportunity came in 2000, when a one-episode role as firefighter Burt Ridley on NBC's Providence expanded to 19 episodes. That year he also made his feature-film debut with a small role in Space Cowboys. His early screen work included Kissing Jessica Stein, We Were Soldiers, The Division, and guest appearances on shows such as CSI: Miami and Numb3rs.

In 2007, Hamm won the role of Don Draper on AMC's Mad Men after auditioning multiple times. Set in a fictional 1960s advertising agency, the series centered on Draper, a charismatic executive whose carefully managed public identity concealed a troubled past. January Jones played his on-screen wife Betty, John Slattery played his boss Roger Sterling, and Elisabeth Moss played Peggy Olson.

Hamm's performance made him widely known and earned strong critical recognition. He won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series, Drama, in 2008 and 2016, and received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2015. The series concluded after seven seasons.

During the Mad Men years, Hamm expanded into film and comedy. His work included The Day the Earth Stood Still, Stolen, Howl, The Town, Sucker Punch, and Bridesmaids. He also played Drew Baird, a neighbor and love interest of Tina Fey's character on 30 Rock, a role that brought him three Primetime Emmy nominations for guest acting in a comedy series.

Hamm continued moving between dramatic and comedic roles after Mad Men. His films included Keeping Up with the Joneses, Baby Driver, Beirut, Tag, Bad Times at the El Royale, Lucy in the Sky, Richard Jewell, No Sudden Move, Top Gun: Maverick, and Confess, Fletch. In Confess, Fletch, he played the title detective and reunited with his Mad Men co-star John Slattery.

His television work included A Young Doctor's Notebook, Black Mirror: White Christmas, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Legion, Good Omens, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Morning Show, Fargo, Landman, and Your Friends & Neighbors. He played Archangel Gabriel in Good Omens and Sheriff Roy Tillman in the fifth season of Fargo.

Hamm has also worked extensively as a voice actor. His credits include Brogan in Shrek Forever After, Herb Overkill in Minions, Sentinel Prime in Transformers One, and Marvin Flute in Grimsburg, which he also executive produced. He formed the production company Points West Pictures with Jennifer Westfeldt in 2009 and produced Friends with Kids with her.

Hamm married actor Anna Osceola in June 2023. They first met when Osceola appeared in the final season of Mad Men, made their relationship public in 2020, and became engaged in 2022. Hamm and Osceola later worked together on the Apple TV+ series Your Friends & Neighbors.

Before his marriage, Hamm was in a relationship with actor and screenwriter Jennifer Westfeldt from 1997 to 2015. They appeared together in Gap advertising campaigns, formed Points West Pictures, and co-starred in Friends with Kids.

Hamm stopped smoking at 24, although he used tobacco-free herbal cigarettes while filming Mad Men. In 2015, he completed inpatient treatment for alcoholism. He has also discussed developing vitiligo during the first season of Mad Men.

Hamm supported Barack Obama in the 2012 United States presidential election and attended a Broadway fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in 2016. In 2023, he narrated a campaign advertisement for Democratic Senate candidate Lucas Kunce in Missouri.

He endorsed Adam Schiff in California's 2024 United States Senate election and participated in a public-service announcement with Kerry Washington and Kevin Love focused on preventing sexual assault on college campuses. Hamm has also supported cancer research charities, including through the 2017 Desert Smash charity tennis match.