Mad Men Cast & Character Guide

From Jon Hamm to Elisabeth Moss, the Mad Men characters are played by immensely talented actors playing deeply complex characters. Almost every major character is involved in extramarital affairs, amoral backroom dealings, and the relentless spread of secondhand smoke. Focusing on the unscrupulous executives of a New York advertising firm in the 1960s, Mad Men is subversively action-free. Whereas shows like The Sopranos relied on mob murders to keep the audience invested, Mad Men had to grip viewers with its characters and their interpersonal conflicts alone.

Throughout seven critically acclaimed seasons, the cast of Mad Men collectively won two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. Many of Mad Men’s cast members received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for their performances, and some of them even took home trophies. The writers created a company full of rich, three-dimensional human beings, and the cast brought them to life. Mad Men features nuanced performances by some of TV’s most prolific actors.

Jon Hamm As Don Draper

Birthdate: March 10, 1971

Character: Jon Hamm plays the philandering ad executive Don Draper, the brooding protagonist of Mad Men. Along with Tony Soprano and Walter White, Don is one of the most iconic antiheroes of the “Peak TV” age. His real name is Dick Whitman; he stole his identity from his commanding officer in the Korean War. Hamm won an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards for his turn in Mad Men.

Actor: Jon Hamm got his start in acting when he answered the audition for a stage play production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and was cast for his first role. He then worked on stage plays before he finally moved to Los Angeles and gave himself a deadline of 30 to make it as an actor or return home and seek another vocation. He landed a role in the NBC drama series Providence, and his career exploded from there. He has since starred in movies as varied as Bridesmaids, Baby Driver, Top Gun: Maverick, and the Mean Girls remake.

Elisabeth Moss As Peggy Olson

Birthdate: July 24, 1982

Character: Peggy Olson, one of the feminist heroes of Mad Men, is played by Elisabeth Moss. Peggy was introduced as Don’s secretary before rising through the ranks to become a top copywriter with her own office. For her roles in Mad Men and other renowned TV dramas, Moss has been dubbed “The Queen of Peak TV” by Vulture. Moss picked up six Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her performance, and the Screen Actors Guild nominated her twice.

Actor: Moss had previously played Zoey Bartlet, the youngest daughter of President Josiah Bartlet, in The West Wing, which was her breakout role after working for nine years in various movies and TV shows. Since she left Mad Men, she has picked up another iconic role as June Osborne in Hulu’s acclaimed TV adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, for which she’s been awarded two Emmy Awards. She also impressed critics with her role in the horror movie The Invisible Man and Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch.

John Slattery As Roger Sterling

Birthdate: August 13, 1962

Character: John Slattery plays the hedonistic Roger Sterling, a managing partner at Sterling Cooper and later a founding partner at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. Roger’s long-standing relationship with Lucky Strike is a key part of the show’s business storylines, while his shameless long-term affair with Joan was an integral part of both of their character arcs. Slattery was nominated for four Emmy Awards for his turn in Mad Men.

Actor: John Slattery started acting in 1988 and made his name on various TV shows, including Homefront, Will & Grace, Sex and the City, and Desperate Housewives​​​​​​. He also appeared as a supporting actor in several high-profile movies, including Mona Lisa Smile with Julia Roberts and the Clint Eastwood film Flags of Our Fathers. He also portrayed journalist Ben Bradlee, Jr. in the Best Picture-winning movie Spotlight and has played Tony Stark’s father, Howard, in various films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Christina Hendricks As Joan Holloway

Birthdate: May 3, 1975

Character: Played by Christina Hendricks, Joan Holloway (later Joan Harris) is introduced as Sterling Cooper’s office manager and head of the typing pool. By the end of the series, she’s become a junior partner. Joan spent most of the series engaged in an on-and-off affair with Roger. She wed Dr. Greg Harris between seasons 2 and 3, but the marriage ended when he returned to Vietnam. Hendricks received six Emmy nominations for her performance in Mad Men.

Actor: Christina Hendricks started as a model in 1994 after appearing on the cover of Seventeen as a teenager. She then got her start on TV in the MTV series Undressed before appearing on Beggers and Choosers on Showtime and the fantasy show Angel. This led to recurring roles in ER and Firefly, and then her breakout in Mad Men. She later took on the role of one of the leads in Good Girls from 2018 to 2021. She also had supporting roles in Drive, Ginger & Rosa, and Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut Lost River.

Vincent Kartheiser As Pete Campbell

Birthdate: May 5, 1979

Character: Pete Campbell, an ambitious young account executive from a privileged background, is played by Vincent Kartheiser. Pete is so desperate for power that he attempts to blackmail Don, although the scheme blows up in his face. Despite his attempted blackmail, Pete looks up to Don and emulates his behavior.

Actor: Vincent Kartheiser also played Connor in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off series Angel and Dr. Jonathan Crane, better known as the Scarecrow, in season 3 of the DC series Titans. Before appearing in Mad Men, Kartheiser starred in the movies Alaska, Masterminds, and Another Day in Paradise. He was also nominated for the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for 2015’s Saints & Sinners. However, he hasn’t had a starring role in any movie or TV show since 2021.

January Jones As Betty Draper

Birthdate: January 5, 1978

Character: Don’s wife and later ex, Betty Draper is played by January Jones. Betty is the mother of Don’s three children, and after divorcing him, she married Henry Francis. At the end of the series, Betty sadly reckoned with her mortality as she was diagnosed with lung cancer and told she had less than a year to live. Jones earned an Emmy nomination for her turn as Betty.

Actor: January Jones started her career as a model when she was 18 in New York. However, after a short time as a model, she moved into acting, starting with a music video and then taking on supporting roles in Anger Management, Love Actually, and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights​​​​​​. She got her first major role as Carole Dawson in the movie We Are Marshall and then enjoyed her breakout in Mad Men. She played Melissa Chartres in The Last Man on Earth and starred as the mutant villain Emma Frost in X-Men: First Class.

Kiernan Shipka As Sally Draper

Birthdate: November 10, 1999

Character: Don and Betty’s oldest and most contentious child, Sally Draper, is played by Kiernan Shipka. Sally began as a minor character in Mad Men but she was promoted to a starring role starting in season 4. She worked in the role from the age of eight to 16 and was part of the cast that won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2008 and 2009.

Actor: Kiernan Shipka is now best known for portraying teenage witch Sabrina Spellman in the Netflix series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and in a crossover cameo appearance in the sixth season of Riverdale on The CW. She got her first acting job in ER when she was five months old. However, her first major role was as Sally Draper when she was eight. She recently starred in the Prime Video series Swimming with Sharks as Lou Simms and the holiday movie Red One as the villain, Grýla.

Mad Men Supporting Cast & Characters

Mad Men Has Several Standout Characters

Aaron Staton as Ken Cosgrove: Account executive and aspiring author Ken Cosgrove is played by Aaron Staton. Staton also played the lead role of Cole Phelps in the video game L.A. Noire.

Rich Sommer as Harry Crane: The head of Sterling Cooper’s TV department, Harry Crane, is played by Rich Sommer. Sommer also played Harlan Emple in Elementary, Mark Eagan in GLOW, and voiced Del Hanlon in Regular Show.

Robert Morse as Bert Cooper: Sterling Cooper’s eccentric, staunchly conservative senior partner Bert Cooper is played by the late Robert Morse. Morse won Tony Awards for his performances in the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and the Truman Capote-centric one-man play Tru.

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Bryan Batt as Sal Romano: Sterling Cooper’s closeted art director, Sal Romano, is played by Bryan Batt. Batt also starred in the musical adaptation of Saturday Night Fever and played Mayor Quinn Maddox in the TV series adaptation of the Scream franchise.

Michael Gladis as Paul Kinsey: The liberal, Princeton-educated copywriter Paul Kinsey is played by Michael Gladis. Gladis also played Lt. Matias in Terminator Genisys and Charlton Townsend in Penny Dreadful: City of Angels.

Jared Harris as Lane Pryce: Lane Pryce, the English financial officer who joins Sterling, Cooper, and Draper’s new firm, is played by Jared Harris. Harris has also played Professor Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Ulysses S. Grant in Lincoln, and Valery Legasov in Chornobyl.

Jessica Paré as Megan Draper: Megan Draper, Don’s third wife after Betty and the real Don’s widow, is played by Jessica Paré. Paré later starred in the military drama series SEAL Team and appeared in the movies Hot Tub Time Machine and Brooklyn.

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Did Roger Sterling Really Hire Don Draper On Mad Men?

Don Draper joined Sterling Cooper thanks to Roger Sterling, but Mad Men left it ambiguous whether or not Roger actually hired Don.

Ben Feldman as Michael Ginsberg: Copywriter Michael Ginsberg is played by Ben Feldman. Feldman got his start when he played the lead role of Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate’s stage adaptation on Broadway. He has since played Ron LaFlamme in Silicon Valley and Jonah Simms in Superstore.

Jay R. Ferguson as Stan Rizzo: Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce’s art director and Peggy’s eventual love interest, Stan Rizzo, is played by Jay R. Ferguson. Ferguson previously played Taylor Newton in Evening Shade and went on to play Ben Olinsky in The Conners.

Kevin Rahm as Ted Chaough: Don’s self-proclaimed rival, Ted Chaough, is played by Kevin Rahm in Mad Men. Rahm also played Kyle McCarty in Judging Amy and Lee McDermott in Desperate Housewives.

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Mad Men is the award-winning show created by Matthew Wiener that stars Jon Hamm as Don Draper, a masterful ad man in the high-speed advertising world. Set between the 1960s and 70s; Mad Men explores this “Golden Age” of advertising, where everyone has something to sell, and those who don’t score a quick win are out of the game. The series also examines the world from a few other character’s perspectives, such as Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss), a young woman who starts as a secretary for Don despite the difficulty for women to be taken seriously in business during this time, rises to the challenge to become an ad woman of her own.

Release Date

July 19, 2007

Seasons

7

Showrunner

Matthew Weiner