Why He's No. 34

At the moment, actor Jon Hamm portrays Don Draper, the deeply conflicted creative director at New York City’s top ad agency on the American Movie Channel’s (AMC) wildly successful drama Mad Men.

Back Stage

Jonathan Daniel "Jon" Hamm (born March 10, 1971) is an American actor whose work has been primarily in television roles. For much of the mid-1990s, he lived in Los Angeles as a struggling, unemployed actor. He received work when he appeared in multiple television series roles, including Providence, The Division, What About Brian, and Related. In 2000 he made his feature film debut in Clint Eastwood's space adventure Space Cowboys. The following year, Hamm appeared in the independent comedy Kissing Jessica Stein (2001) in a supporting role. Hamm gained worldwide recognition for playing advertising executive Don Draper in AMC's drama series Mad Men, when it premiered in July 2007. His performance earned him a Golden Globe Award in the category for Best Actor in a Drama Series in 2008. Aside from appearing in Mad Men, he starred in the 2008 science fiction remake The Day the Earth Stood Still and has completed work in the independent thriller The Boy in the Box set for a release in 2009.

Forcaste

Jon Hamm also appeared on such TV series as Providence, The Division, What About Brian, and The Unit. Hamm scored his first major lead as executive Don Draper in the AMC network's series Mad Men (2007) -- a period serial about a group of boozing, chain-smoking, and sexist advertising suits toiling away at their jobs in a Manhattan high rise, circa 1960.