NEWS

Elisabeth Moss: Hamm is powerful actor

4th August 2011

(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Jon Hamm is such a good actor Elisabeth Moss never knows if he's going to "hit you or kiss you or start crying".

The two stars appear alongside each other in American television show Mad Men, which is set in the world of 1960s advertising. Jon plays ladies' man Don Draper while Elisabeth is his co-worker Peggy Olson.

The two share many scenes together, and have been nominated for an Emmy Award this year. They both submitted Mad Men episode The Suitcase to be considered when nominations were being decided upon. It sees them screaming at each other, and Elisabeth believes it's some of Jon's best work.

"Jon gets a lot of comparisons to old movie stars like Gary Cooper," she said. "They're correct, but not because of the way he looks. To me, what makes him similar to those movie stars is you don't know if they were going to hit you or kiss you or start crying. In The Suitcase, when he breaks down and cries it was so personal and raw it was almost uncomfortable for me. To see a man who seems to have it all break down like that is so powerful."

Jon spent many years trying to forge a successful acting career. It took him a long time to get the sort of parts he wanted and he has vowed never to take anything for granted. At 40, he's continually amazed by the route his life has taken.

"I've worked in restaurants longer than I've done anything else," he told LA Times. "It's a good, honest living. But I'm lucky: I set off on a path 20 years ago to do this, knowing the likely outcome was failure, or at least a middling existence. Anybody who tells you they deserve anything in this career is delusional. I wake up every day and wonder, 'What did I do in a past life to have all this craziness happen to me?'" (C) Cover Media

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