"[My dad] was twice [widowered]. He was divorced from my mom when she died, but even so, there's a deep sense of tragedy in that. I never had the opportunity to, as an adult, sit down and talk to him about that. It's a real loss. I was quasi-adopted by my friends' families... And even today I get emails or cards from these women who, for lack of a better word, were my mom. We talk about what it means to be a family. Mostly it's about showing up. And being aware enough to check in and say, 'How are you doing?' I've been incredibly lucky to have these people in my life."
Jonathan Daniel Hamm was born on March 10, 1971, inSt. Louis, Missouri,[8][9] the son of Deborah (née Garner) Hamm, a secretary, and Daniel Hamm, who managed a family trucking company.[10][11][12] Hamm is ofGerman,English,French, andIrish descent; his surname came from German immigrants.[13] He was raisedCatholic.[14] His parents divorced when he was two years old, and he lived in the St. Louis suburb ofCreve Coeur with his mother[12] until her death fromcolon cancer when Hamm was 10 years old.[15] He then lived with his father and grandmother in nearbyNormandy[16] until his father died ten years after his mother. Jon was 20.[17]
His first acting role was asWinnie-the-Pooh in first grade.[18] At 16, he was cast asJudas in the playGodspell[19] and enjoyed the experience, though he did not take acting seriously. He attendedJohn Burroughs School, a private school inLadue, where he was a member of the football, baseball and swim teams.[20] During this time, he datedSarah Clarke, who became an actress.[21]
After graduation in 1989, Hamm enrolled at theUniversity of Texas.[22] While a member ofSigma Nu fraternity at that university, Hamm was arrested along with seven other students for violently attacking and severely injuring fellow student Mark Allen Sanders[23] as part offraternity hazing in November 1990.[24] Hamm admitted the crime, which included severely beating a student and lighting a student's pants on fire,[25] as part of adeferred adjudication plea deal and the charges were dismissed following the completion of probation.[24][26] He later transferred to theUniversity of Missouri.[22] He answered an advertisement from a theater company seeking players for a production ofA Midsummer Night's Dream and was cast in the production.[20] Other roles followed, such asLeon Czolgosz inAssassins.[27]
After graduating in 1993 with a BA in English,[26] Hamm returned to his high school to teach eighth-grade acting.[12][20][28] One of his students wasEllie Kemper, who became an actress. Years later, Hamm appeared in Kemper'sNetflix seriesUnbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.[29]
Hamm, who did not wish to pursue a "normal career", moved to Los Angeles permanently in 1995.[30][21] He moved into a house with four other aspiring actors and began working as a waiter while attending auditions.[20] He acted in theater, including as Flavius in a production of Shakespeare'sTimon of Athens with theSacred Fools Theater Company.[31] Looking older than his age, he found it difficult to find work as an actor, despite representation by theWilliam Morris Agency.[21][32][30][33] In 1998, after he had failed to get any acting work for three years, William Morris dropped him as a client.[11] He continued working as a waiter[20] and, briefly, worked as aset decorator for asoftcore pornography movie.[32] He decided that his thirtieth birthday would be his deadline to succeed in Hollywood,[19] and has said:
You either suck that up and find another agent, or you go home and say you gave it a shot, but that's the end of that. The last thing I wanted to be out here was one of those actors who's 45 years old, with a tenuous grasp of their own reality, and not really working much. So I gave myself five years. I said, if I can't get it going by the time I'm 30, I'm in the wrong place. And as soon as I said that, it's like I started working right away.[20]
Hamm landed his breakthrough role in 2007, when he was chosen from over 80 candidates[32] to playDon Draper,protagonist ofAMC's drama seriesMad Men. In the series, set in a fictional 1960sMadison Avenuead agency, he played a suave, married, philandering executive with an obscure past.[39] He recalled, "I read the script forMad Men and I loved it . . . I never thought they'd cast me—I mean, I thought they'd go with one of the five guys who look like me but are movie stars."[40] He believes that an actor with a "proven track record" would likely have been chosen if another network had produced the show.[30] He went through numerous auditions; each time he explained to the casting directors what he could bring to the character, if given the part.[20]Alan Taylor andMad Men creatorMatthew Weiner initially thought he was "too handsome" for the role, but ultimately decided, "it was perfect to cast sort of the perfect male in this part." Weiner also sensed that Hamm had suffered the early loss of his parents, similarly to Draper'sbackstory.[11][41] Hamm says that he used memories of his father to portray Draper, a well-dressed, influential man of business and society[18] hiding great inner turmoil[11] and experiencing changes in the world beyond his control.
Hamm's next film role was in the 2008 science fiction movieThe Day the Earth Stood Still, a remake of the classic1951 film of the same name.[51] It received mixed reviews[52] but was financially successful, earning $230 million worldwide.[53] Hamm hostedSaturday Night Live, season 34, episode 6, on October 25, 2008,[54] and played various roles, including Don Draper in two sketches.[55] He returned as host again on January 30 and October 30, 2010.[56][57] Hamm hostedSNL for a fourth time on April 12, 2025.[58][59] In the 15 years between his last two hosting appearances, Hamm was featured in 14 episodes as acameo.[60][61]
In 2009, he guest-starred in three episodes of theNBC television sitcom30 Rock asDrew Baird, a doctor who is a neighbor and love interest ofLiz Lemon (Tina Fey) earning three nominations for thePrimetime Emmy Award forOutstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.[62][63] Hamm's first leading film role came with the independent mystery thrillerStolen in 2009, in which he played a police officer whose son has been missing for eight years.[64][65] In 2010 he had a minor voice role in the animated featureShrek Forever After as an ogre leader named Brogan. The film received mixed reviews but was a commercial success.[66]
He played as an FBI agent in the crime dramaThe Town withBen Affleck.[67] After receiving "about 40 scripts that were all set in the 60s, or had me playing advertising guys," Hamm was pleased thatThe Town offered him a role that was "the opposite to Don Draper."[68] It received generally favorable reviews[69] and earned $144 million worldwide.[70] His next acting role was as defense attorneyJake Ehrlich in the independent filmHowl, based onAllen Ginsberg'seponymous 1956 poem.[71] On December 12, 2010, he made a guest appearance as an FBI supervisor onFox's animated seriesThe Simpsons.[72] He was featured inZack Snyder's action-fantasy filmSucker Punch (2011) as the character High Roller and the doctor.[73] He also had a supporting role in the comedyBridesmaids asKristen Wiig's "rude and arrogant sex buddy."[74] He was next seen in the independent featureFriends with Kids (2011), which he produced with his then-partner Jennifer Westfeldt.[75] The story concerns a group of friends whose lives are changed as the couples in the group begin to have children. Hamm and Westfedlt acted alongsideAdam Scott,Kristen Wiig,Maya Rudolph, andMegan Fox.
In 2022, Hamm appeared inTop Gun: Maverick, the sequel to 1986'sTop Gun. The same year, Hamm reunited with Greg Mottola on their second collaboration and hisMad Men co-starJohn Slattery forConfess, Fletch. It is the first installment in theFletch series to not starChevy Chase in the titular role. Hamm plays Fletch in the film and received positive reviews for his performance and comedic timing.[93][94] It was released theatrically on September 16, 2022, and premiered onShowtime on October 28, 2022. The following year he joined theApple TV+ drama seriesThe Morning Show, appearing alongsideJennifer Aniston andReese Witherspoon.
In 2025, he began starring in theApple TV+ seriesYour Friends & Neighbors, his first lead role on television sinceMad Men. The series has been renewed for a second season.[98]
Internationally considered to be asex symbol, Hamm was named one ofSalon's Sexiest Men Living in 2007[99] and one ofPeople's Sexiest Men Alive in 2008.[100]Entertainment Weekly named him one of their Entertainers of the Year in both 2008 and 2010.[101][102] Hamm also wonGQ's "International Man" award in September 2010.[103]
In 2010,Mercedes-Benz hired Hamm (replacing actorRichard Thomas) as the new voiceover of their commercials, beginning with a commercial for theS400 Hybrid campaign.[104] In 2013,American Airlines debuted a television commercial titled "Change is in the Air," featuring Hamm's voice-over. Hamm is anAmerican Airlines frequent flier and hisMad Men character Don Draper often spoke of aspiring to win such accounts as American Airlines.[105] Hamm has also appeared in several commercials in an ongoing ad campaign forH&R Block income tax services.[106] He also appears in ongoing ads inCanada forSkipTheDishes.[107] In January 2022 he appeared on anApple TV+ ad titled "Everyone but Jon Hamm" showcasing the streaming service's wide array of A-list actresses and actors participating inoriginal Apple productions.[108] Also in 2022, Hamm was featured in a series of TV commercials forProgressive Insurance as having an off-and-on relationship with spokesperson Flo.[109]
In March 2015, Hamm's representative confirmed that he had recently completed in-patient treatment foralcoholism.[24][113] Hamm also reported developingvitiligo during the filming of Season 1 ofMad Men.[114]
Hamm was in a long-term relationship with actress and screenwriter,Jennifer Westfeldt, from 1997 to 2015.[15][116] Along with Westfeldt, Hamm appeared inGap-related campaign advertisements.[117] In April 2009, Hamm and Westfeldt formed their own production company, Points West Pictures.[118][119]
In February 2023, Hamm became engaged to actress Anna Osceola after two years of dating. The two were married in June 2023, atAnderson Canyon inBig Sur, California.[120][121][122] Osceola briefly appeared as theflower child receptionist at the California coastal retreat that Hamm's character stayed at inthe 2015 series finale ofMad Men.[123]
Hamm is a devoted fan of theSt. Louis BluesNational Hockey League (NHL) team and has appeared in two television advertisements for the team.[124] He is also a fan of theSt. Louis CardinalsMajor League Baseball (MLB) team[125] and narrated the official highlight movie for the2011 World Series, won by the Cardinals.[126] He also narrates theAmazonNFL documentary seriesAll or Nothing, as of 2015. In 2012, he played in the MLB Legend and Celebrity All Star Softball game as a member of the National League. He represented the Cardinals and hit a home run during the game. In 2018, he narrated the videoThe Saint Louis Browns: The Team That Baseball Forgot, presented by theSaint Louis Browns Historical Society.[127]
^abBland, Pete (July 27, 2008). "Mad man — Jon Hamm's rise to becoming the slickest, suavest man on television has deep, dedicated roots in Columbia".Columbia Daily Tribune.
^Snyder, Gabriel (July 2008)."Jon Hamm".W. p. 2. Archived fromthe original on October 14, 2008. RetrievedFebruary 10, 2009.
^abDodd, Johnny; Natasha Stoynoff (September 10, 2007)."Mad About Him".People.Archived from the original on August 29, 2016. RetrievedFebruary 13, 2009.
^Elliott, Stuart (November 12, 2008)."Holiday Campaigns Bring on the Humor to Reassure Consumers".The New York Times.Archived from the original on April 11, 2009. RetrievedFebruary 12, 2009.The celebrities in the Gap campaign include Jon Hamm ofMad Men ... with his girlfriend, the actress Jennifer Westfeldt.
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