Jon Hamm

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Jon Hamm

American actor

Also known as: Jonathan Daniel Hamm

Written by Karen Sparks

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Nov 17, 2024 • Article History

Quick Facts

Byname of:: Jonathan Daniel Hamm

Born:: March 10, 1971, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.

Also Known As:: Jonathan Daniel Hamm

Awards And Honors:: Golden Globe Award; Emmy Award (2015); Emmy Award (2015): Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series; Golden Globe Award (2016): Best Actor in a Television Series - Drama; Golden Globe Award (2008): Best Actor in a Television Series - Drama

Movies/Tv Shows (Acted In):: "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (2020); "All or Nothing: Philadelphia Eagles" (2020); "Medical Police" (2020); "Richard Jewell" (2019); "The Jesus Rolls" (2019); "Between Two Ferns: The Movie" (2019); "Lucy in the Sky" (2019); "Good Omens" (2019); "The Report" (2019); "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" (2015–2019); "Big City Greens" (2018); "Bad Times at the El Royale" (2018); "I Love You, America" (2018); "Random Acts of Flyness" (2018); "American Masters" (2018); "Tag" (2018); "Legion" (2018); "Barry" (2018); "The Amazing Gayl Pile" (2016–2018); "Beirut" (2018); "Nostalgia" (2018); "Big Mouth" (2017); "Aardvark" (2017); "Baby Driver" (2017); "Marjorie Prime" (2017); "SpongeBob SquarePants" (2016); "Keeping Up with the Joneses" (2016); "The Last Man on Earth" (2016); "TripTank" (2015–2016); "Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie" (2016); "Angie Tribeca" (2016); "Wander Over Yonder" (2016); "Childrens Hospital" (2010–2016); "The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret" (2012–2016); "Toast of London" (2015); "Saturday Night Live" (2011–2015); "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp" (2015); "Minions" (2015); "Mad Men" (2007–2015); "Parks and Recreation" (2014–2015); "Black Mirror" (2014); "Web Therapy" (2014); "Web Therapy" (2014); "Million Dollar Arm" (2014); "A Young Doctor's Notebook & Other Stories" (2012–2013); "The Greatest Event in Television History" (2012–2013); "The Congress" (2013); "Archer" (2013); "Bob's Burgers" (2013); "American Dad!" (2012); "Family Guy" (2012); "Metalocalypse" (2012); "30 Rock" (2009–2012); "Martha Speaks" (2012); "Robot Chicken" (2011); "Friends with Kids" (2011); "Sucker Punch" (2011); "The Simpsons" (2010); "The Town" (2010); "Shrek Forever After" (2010); "Howl" (2010); "Stolen Lives" (2009); "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (2008); "The Unit" (2006–2007); "What About Brian" (2006–2007); "The Sarah Silverman Program." (2007); "The Ten" (2007); "Numb3rs" (2006); "Ira & Abby" (2006); "CSI: Miami" (2005); "Related" (2005); "Point Pleasant" (2005); "Charmed" (2005); "The Division" (2002–2004); "Gilmore Girls" (2002); "We Were Soldiers" (2002); "Early Bird Special" (2001); "Providence" (2000–2001); "Kissing Jessica Stein" (2001); "The Trouble with Normal" (2000); "Space Cowboys" (2000); "The Hughleys" (2000)

Jon Hamm (born March 10, 1971, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.) is an American actor who is best known for his work as the mercurial and brilliant adman Don Draper on the television series Mad Men (2007–15). Hamm also found success in film, often harnessing his magnetism to soften complicated characters or for comedic effect.

Early life and education

Hamm had a difficult upbringing. His parents divorced when he was two years of age, and his mother, with whom he lived, died when he was 10. He moved in with his father and grandmother, but she soon died, and during Hamm’s sophomore year at the University of Texas, his father passed away. Unsettled, he dropped out of school and returned to his hometown. He entered the University of Missouri, where he performed in stage productions (as well as in a repertory company during two summers). After Hamm received a B.A. in English (1993), he taught (1993–95) in St. Louis at the exclusive John Burroughs School, which he had earlier attended.

Early credits and Mad Men

Hamm moved to Hollywood in 1995. In 2000 the actor made both his TV debut (The Hughleys) and his film bow (Space Cowboys). His star began to rise when he reprised his lead role in the Los Angeles play Lipschtick for the film Kissing Jessica Stein (2001), which was written by Jennifer Westfeldt, with whom he became romantically involved. (The pair would separate in 2015.) He spent two years (2002–04) on the TV police procedural The Division, and after the series was canceled, he landed recurring roles in 2006–07 on both the military drama The Unit and the dramedy What About Brian.

USA 2006 - 78th Annual Academy Awards. Closeup of giant Oscar statue at the entrance of the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, film movie hollywood

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Hamm was then cast on Mad Men, portraying the duplicitous Don Draper, a serially adulterous Madison Avenue advertising executive who harbors the secret that he had assumed the identity of a fellow soldier killed in combat. The show premiered in 2007 and was an immediate success with critics and viewers. Hamm earned particular praise, winning two Golden Globe Awards (2008 and 2016) for best performance by an actor in a dramatic role and receiving eight Emmy Award nominations for best actor. He finally won the latter award in 2015, for the final season of the series.

Other TV credits included 30 Rock (as Dr. Drew Baird), Children’s Hospital, A Young Doctor’s Notebook, Parks and Recreation, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. In 2019 he appeared as the archangel Gabriel in the Amazon miniseries Good Omens. Hamm narrated the sports documentary series All or Nothing: The Philadelphia Eagles (2020).

The Town and Million Dollar Arm

Hamm continued to appear in feature films, notably the crime thriller The Town (2010); Friends with Kids (2011), which featured Westfeldt, who also wrote and directed the romantic comedy; and Million Dollar Arm (2014), a drama in which he portrayed a sports agent. He later was cast as a government spy in the comedy Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016). Hamm’s film credits from 2017 included the action comedy Baby Driver, in which he played a bank robber.

The next year Hamm starred in Beirut, portraying Mason Skiles, a former U.S. diplomat mediating a hostage situation in the midst of the Lebanese civil war, and the ensemble comedy Tag, playing a member of a group of friends involved in an epic match of the children’s game. Hamm assumed the role of a salesman staying at a hotel with a storied history in Bad Times at the El Royale (2018).

Top Gun: Maverick and Fargo

Hamm’s movies from 2019 included Lucy in the Sky, a drama centering on an astronaut who struggles to adjust to life back on Earth; The Report, a true story about an investigation into the CIA’s post-9/11 interrogation strategies; and Richard Jewell, Clint Eastwood’s biopic about a security guard who was wrongly accused of orchestrating the Atlanta Olympic Games bombing of 1996. He later appeared in the dramedy Wild Mountain Thyme (2021) and Steven Soderbergh’s No Sudden Move (2021). In 2022 Hamm portrayed a vice admiral in the action drama Top Gun: Maverick, a sequel to the 1986 blockbuster about navy jet pilots.

Hamm returned to television for the fifth season (2023–24) of the anthology crime series Fargo. In a break from his usual characters, he was cast as the villainous Roy Tillman, a misogynistic, white nationalist sheriff. The performance earned Hamm an Emmy nomination—as did his portrayal of a tech billionaire in the third season (2023) of The Morning Show. He then played an oil company owner in Landman (2024– ), a TV series cocreated by Taylor Sheridan. The show, which is set in the oil boomtowns of Texas, also starred Billy Bob Thornton and Demi Moore.

Karen Sparks The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica