The reason for the 32 cameras? He’s starring as a rookie detective for the LAPD in 1947, and every facial expression and mannerism will be caught and transformed to place him in the incredibly accurate world of Los Angeles on the brink of the Golden Age. The actors who are playing the many different characters in this game must actually act, because the smallest move of an eyebrow or a smirk will be used to determine by you the player if a suspect is lying or telling the truth in the interrogation room. The same goes for witnesses on the street, possible corrupt detectives, and the victims themselves.

Take a drive through the streets of Los Angeles in this wonderfully gritty time period. Seven years in the making, LA Noire hits the stores on May 17^th, and don’t be surprised if it’s the coolest game you’ve ever played.

They start filming season 4 in a couple of days and I absolutely cannot wait!

Q. You and your character seemed to fit right in from the start on “Mad Men.” What was it like to work on the show?

A. There are places you go to work where you’re immediately made to feel at home and everybody’s there because  they want to be there. Nobody’s just putting in time. That’s the atmosphere on “Mad Men.”

In my considered opinion, (the tone is set) from the top. And the director and producers of “Mad Men” couldn’t be nicer. That’s always been one of the things that has made an experience exceptional –— when the director absolutely believes in what he’s doing and he’s filled up with the prospect of bringing this (story) to life and making it as real for everybody else as it is for him. I used to work with a director named David H. Bell at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. He had that same kind of infectious quality about him, (the attitude that) nothing is small about what we’re doing if we don’t belittle it and (if we) believe in what we’re doing.

Jon Hamm is truly a down-to-earth Missouri guy, he brings his dog Cora to the set most days. I had a great time with Robert Morse, he’s fun and he’s so good and his resume is jaw-dropping. He’s really an actor’s actor. It’s a good group. I’m glad that it looked like I belonged there because I’d like to go back.

Q It’s obviously too soon to know what “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner has planned for Season 4, but the door was left open to Hilton’s possible return someday. Would you like to go back?

A. Of course. It’s a great character. You know the saying about people living lives of quiet desperation? That’s really the essence of almost all drama, the desperation in people’s lives. I think that Connie sees in Don the kind of active desperation, not quiet desperation, that (Connie) had in him when he was a young man. That same sort of drive. That’s why they  complemented each other so well.  Connie is a bigger-than-life character to begin with, and Matt and the writers sharpened that.

Q. There were so many levels to that relationship between Don and Connie. Do you think that Connie really thought of Don as a son, or was that something he told Don to get him to work harder?

A. There are levels to that answer too. The fact is that Conrad Hilton had a history of finding the brightest and the most eager, putting the leash on them for a little while and getting what he could, and then turning them loose. With Conrad Hilton, it was and always is a testing period. “I threw you this little bit; let’s see if you can do that, then I’ll try you on bigger things.” If circumstances had not conspired against the continuation of the relationship, I think that he would have given Sterling Cooper and Don Draper more. [But the agency merger] made that impossible for him to do.

I think the fact that Connie puts it right back in his face when Don starts whining a bit –— it’s that next level in the Connie test. “You did good so far; you were what I thought you were. Now it’s time to go out and do it on your own.” That’s the impetus for the next chapter in the story. Don sucks it up and says, “Yes, this is a turning point.”

I had an interesting conversation with (“Mad Men” creator) Matt Weiner one day. He told me that way back in Season 1, he and Jon Hamm had a discussion in which they decided that there was no way, if the series continued, that Don Draper could stay at Sterling Cooper (indefinitely). It would not be a fit. It would be way outside his character to end up there (for his entire career).

Q. Did you do a lot of research on Conrad Hilton before playing him?

When did you start acting? Were you pretty young?

You know, kind of. My first acting job, so the story goes, was in first grade. I was picked by my teacher to be Winnie the Pooh in our first-grade production of Winnie the Pooh—back when, you know, public school programs still had things like productions of Winnie the Pooh, and music programs and recess and things like that.

Jumping ahead a bit, or a lot, what was your first acting job after you moved to L.A.?

The first job I got was a one-episode thing on Providence where I played this sort of bartender. It was a Halloween party and I had a costume. I dressed up as Zorro. I was sort of a…

A love interest?

Yeah, for the younger sister. But what I didn’t know was that the star of the show [Melina Kanakaredes] had gotten pregnant and they were running out of lenses to shoot her with and things for her to hold in front of her. So they had to kind of beef up everybody’s storyline, and I was available. They ended up bringing my guy back for 17 or 18 more episodes. And after that, I got a little part in a movie and another couple of little parts in TV shows and pilots and this and that and the other. And I was able to, about a year after that, quit my day job and focus on it full time.

What was the day job?

Waiting tables. I mean, I’ve probably been a waiter longer than I’ve really been anything else. Or I’m probably coming up on even. But barely. I quit waiting tables when I was 29. [He’s currently 38.]

Tell me about getting cast on Mad Men.

I had a horrible pilot season that year and one of the last ones to come down the pike was Mad Men. I looked at it and I was like, AMC? They don’t even make television shows—what is this going to be? But the script was really interesting, and we did it. And as I’ve said many, many times before, I was on the bottom of everybody’s list. Like, I started at the very bottom. But to Matt Weiner’s great credit, he was very tenacious in fighting for me.

Tell me about your take on Don. One thing that’s interesting to me is that while on the surface it might look like he’s amoral, he really does have a moral code—it’s just complicated.

You know, as much as Don makes bad decisions and is sort of dubious in his motivations a lot of times, he does have a moral center that is specific and real. He’s fiercely loyal to people that he feels deserve it and less so to people that don’t. He’s confused and he’s confusing, and yet, he has to project this sort of ultimate confidence. And those juxtapositions and dichotomies, I think, are what make the show a lot different than most. You always know Jack Bauer’s going to do the right thing. He’ll kill a couple of guys, but they were bad guys, all of them—they deserved it. There’s really never any gray area. He’s a superhero. And that’s taking nothing away from that show or Kiefer’s performance. He’s amazing. The fact that he does that day in and day out for 24 episodes a year, for six seasons now—the guy deserves a fucking medal. I mean, I don’t know how he stands up. But ours is a different sort of way of telling a story. And I like playing this character. I like going to work. I like telling the story. And, you know, we don’t get a lot of advance warning. Matt doesn’t tell us what’s happening [with the story going forward]. He’s very secretive. But I kind of like not knowing.

Does it help in the performance, not knowing where the story is ultimately going?

Sure. I mean, no one knows where you’re going in life. We could walk out the door, get hit by a car tomorrow. But every week we get to read another chapter of this awesome story. So it’s exciting.

So you’re as surprised as I am when I watch it on TV and all of a sudden you’re tying up Bobby Barrett in bed?

Whoever it is —it’s usually me and Slattery—but we’ll get the scripts and immediately start texting each other, “Did you read this fucking script? What a script, holy shit.” The episode “The Jet Set,” when we read that, it was like, what in the fuck is going on here?

When you took the part, did you do any research into the period or into advertising?

The only real research I did was books, literature, film from that era. And I had a kind of a working knowledge of what that guy was like through my father, who was a businessman. We had a family trucking company based in St. Louis from the turn of the century. And I would look at pictures of my dad in 1950, 1960. He was a big guy. And [the image] was that kind of stuff. I mean, it was whatever club he belonged to—Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis—and the Shriners and suits and all the gear and all the cufflinks. My dad had jewelry boxes full of watches and cufflinks and just like this detritus.

I heard you’ve had a couple of injuries on set.

It’s funny because I just came from my cast physical, which is this thing you have to do every year so that you won’t drop dead. You have to fill out all this shit that happened to you in the last couple of years. And the lady was, like, “Jesus, does the show have a lot of stunts? I don’t remember a lot of stunts in this show.” I was like, “No, no.” But I had two injuries, both in the first season. A piece of the set fell and hit me on the head in the conference room. We’re all sitting around the big table, and a big, like 10-foot section of wall hit me right on top of the head. Of all the people sitting at this huge table. And so that cracked my head open pretty good.

It really split your head?

Oh, yeah, it was a pretty big cut. Head wounds, I gather, are bleeders. I was like, “Oh, shit! What the fuck happened?” And everybody was like, uh uh uh. I started taking my jacket off, making sure it didn’t get blood on it.

Wow, that was unnecessarily responsible of you.

Well, I was more mad than anything, really. I wasn’t really hurt. It was just a smack on the head. But the other one was in the flashback to Korea where we find out this guy dies and I switch identities with him. And I had a stunt to do where I sort of jump with three cameras on my face and land on this pad, with an explosion behind me. Okay. Nothing I haven’t done many times in my life: I have to jump and land on a pad.

You’ve done a lot of stunt work before?

Well, yeah. I mean, I’m not going to do a wheelie on a motorcycle at 80 miles per hour. But jumping and landing on a pad, I’m good to go. And sure as shit, in rehearsal I land on the pad, and for some reason, I don’t slide so much as my hand kind of catches and this bone just snaps. I heard it. And it hurt, but I was like, doesn’t feel broken—it should be okay. It’ll be fine. That was the rehearsal. So now I have to do this twice more. So then I’m trying to land not on my hand. But then I hurt this shoulder. And I was like, Just shoot this fucking thing already.

Did the crew know, or did you keep it to yourself?

After we shot it, I came up to the director and producer, and I was like, “I’m pretty sure I broke my hand on that.” And they’re like, “What? Really?” And I held up my hand, and by that point it was totally swollen. They were like, “Oh, my God. Get some ice.” So it was fine. We just finished the day. There wasn’t much else to do. I went the next day and got a cast put on, took a bunch of Vicodin.

But now you had a cast on, and you have a very tight shooting schedule. Did that mess everything up?

There was one scene where I’m wearing the cast. I have a newspaper on my lap. Somebody comes in my office, and I put the newspaper down [to cover the cast], and I’m like, “What? What do you want?” So we shot that. Then I went to the doctor and they cut it off and put a removable cast on. But then the scene where I promote Elisabeth Moss [playing Peggy Olson] to copywriter, we rehearse it, and I say, “Lizzie, I broke my hand. I don’t have the cast on it now, obviously, because I’m shooting this. So please—I’ll shake your hand, but don’t shake. You know, fake it a little bit.” So we shoot—we do a rehearsal, and Pete says, “Well, we don’t have any copywriters.” I say, “Well, hold on. Peggy, come in here. You’re now promoted to junior copywriter. Your first thing is going to be working with Pete.” And she’s like, “Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much.” And I say, “You’re welcome.” And she… [Hamm pantomimes an extraordinarily firm handshake.] It was just like lightning bolts of pain, like I was almost driven to my knees. And she let go, and she was like, “Oh, my God! What did I do? What did I do?” I was like, “I told you not to shake my hand.” She was like, “I thought you were kidding.” [Laughs.] Like what kind of joke would that be? Like, oh, it was going to be hilarious, a fake handshake. But I’ve since avoided any other injuries, so God bless

Bruce Handy: I’m curious what your discussions were like with [series creator] Matt Weiner about Pete, when you first signed on. In the pilot, it feels like Pete’s going to be the villain of the series, the young snake-y executive. And probably on a lot of TV shows that’s what he would have been. But he’s become much more complicated and interesting than that.

Vincent Kartheiser: I think one of the things Matt [Weiner, the show’s creator] really wanted with Pete was someone who didn’t villainize him from the inside out. Take the pilot, that scene with Peggy, where Pete’s kind of dressing her down—he really thinks he’s being helpful and actually we had to do that scene quite a few times just to get that tone right for me. It was something that Matt and [director] Alan Taylor kept trying to finesse with me, to get to that point where it is rude but it’s really said from this helpful place. But I’m constantly reminding myself with Pete Campbell that the words kind of do the work for me. I don’t have to add any sort of emphasis to it—it’s there. I was reading quotes by Marlon Brando the other day, because I’m a dork, and he has one where he’s talking about his character in On the Waterfront and he says it’s virtually actor-proof. Roles like that show how much of the acting the audience actually does, because the character is so well written that it sings to the audience and the audience fills in the blanks with their own emotion and their own life. And that really sung to me about this project, because the characters are written with such humanism. So even though, like you say, Pete comes from this place of being a villain, that’s something Matt carefully writes away from.

It’s funny that you say it’s actor-proof because of the writing. I would have thought that because so much of the show is subtextual—because there are so many silences—you would be working a lot harder filling things in with your performance than you would on something like C.S.I., where it’s rat-a-tat-tat.

Yeah, maybe. I really enjoy this so much that it’s hard for me to see it as a chore. I mean, there have definitely been scenes where it’s like, O.K., how do we finesse this very kind of crucial scene to just the right point? But this group is really amazing and really, really talented and supportive, and as an actor, as a small piece of this huge painting, I feel like this is … it really isn’t that much work. Like that scene with Peggy in the ending of Season Two [where Peggy tells Pete she gave his baby away after he declares his love for her], after doing two years of work on those characters, that scene plays itself for us. We wanted to make sure the camera was great and we took a long time to set it up and set the tone, but we just shot it out. I mean, me and Elisabeth [Moss], we’ve been building these characters for two years, you know. It’s there. It’s written in. Our characters want to do that. We want to go there. The audience is ready for that. Storytelling is the important thing.

That’s a wrenching scene. I never would have thought that would be one you could just “shoot out.”

Well, I get to work with Elisabeth Moss too, so that’s easy. (Laughs) She’s phenomenal, and that’s a big part of it. It’s also been such a joy to work with these directors. Not only are Matthew Weiner and all the writers so invested in the characters but all the directors come like weeks beforehand and they’re so in love with this show, and really, it’s an opportunity for us to kind of do art in our medium and it doesn’t happen a lot. (Laughs) I think it’s almost like a novel. It’s like a 700-page novel.

You can engage with it.

You can engage. Like Mad Men can set up Season Two with three or four slow episodes, like the beginning of a Russian novel, you know? (Laughs) Like here are your (pretentious voice) “char-act-ers,” and then the payoff can come years down the line. You can have a payoff in The Sopranos four years after it began. And you just see Tony Soprano building toward that idea and that’s a huge payoff for the audience that, in the camera world—the film and TV world—we haven’t had. And once again, there is no kind of black or white with any of these characters. People are all motivated by hundreds of different things, most of them subconscious. Is Pete in love with Peggy? How in love with her is he? Why is he in love with her? Is it really just his ego? I mean, how many times have you been in love with a woman until she loves you back? And then you realize it had nothing to do with her. Or a woman cheats on you and you hate her for decades and then you realize, it’s just my ego. I just couldn’t handle that she like wanted someone else—it had nothing to even do with this woman. And I think that’s the kind of grey area that these characters get to live in and that we get to portray—you say these long moments of silence. But really it’s easier to play a complex character. It’s easier to play a good character. It’s easier to do Shakespeare than Spelling, and I know that sounds crazy, because the challenge of Shakespeare is living up to Shakespeare, living up to that word, not failing, you know, where with Aaron Spelling it’s like, just try to look good. (Laughs) Or maybe don’t use Spelling there, that’s bad … No you can. He’s dead.

Can you tell me a little bit about working with Jon Hamm, as an actor.

He’s a good leader, you know. It’s hard being number one of a big cast like this and you have to set a tone for everyone. You have to establish something that everyone can kind of work off. If you set a tone of respect and professionalism and all of these great things, everyone else will fall in line—they have to. And with Jon there’s none of the bullshit that sometimes comes with it. But as an actor, as someone during the scenes, he’s very, very giving and he’s helpful too. It goes back to how everyone works differently, and Jon definitely works differently than me. I work differently than everyone on the set—I’m kind of goofy, and I’ve worked with some people who tease on that or whatever, but Jon just doesn’t. He just lets everyone do their thing and it works. For an actor, it’s important to feel comfortable and he’s in a position to help us feel comfortable and he’s carrying this baby. I love the scenes that I have with Jon, where it’s just me and Jon—and not just because it’s Jon, but also because it’s Pete and Don. The scenes between them take on this really sub-textual tension, which just naturally happens on the set. Like we’ll do our group scene and then everyone else [in the cast] will leave and it will just be me and Jon, and the set just kind of quiets down a little. The same when it’s Don and January [Jones]. They schedule their scene on different days [from the scenes in the Sterling Cooper office] because they’re on a different stage [for the Draper home]. It’s a very different tone when it’s a Draper day and when it’s an office day. The office days are very bustling: girl extras running everywhere with hair and gabbing and talking, and all the guys smoking and playing chess, and me jumping up down doing my vocal exercises. And then with the Drapers, it’s just Betty, sitting with her dog, and it’s very quiet and a very different tone, but it’s beautiful, man.

You haven’t really had any scenes with January, but what are your impressions of her as an actress?

I think she’s awful. (Laughs) No, I was really impressed with the second season of her work. It’s really great shit. And to think how fast we shoot this. I mean, we get two, three takes and she has page after page after page, and so does Jon. They just work their asses off. But, you know, I feel really blessed. I don’t have that much shit but I always get this really juicy shit. (Laughs) So I just get to slide in and do like—it’s like Joe Pesci in Goodfellas or something. I just slide in and nail out a few scenes. It’s fun, but it’s like three hours’ of work a day. It’s not like the fifteen that January Jones does.

You’ve been acting steadily since you were a kid.

Since I was six .

Did you know then that this is the career you wanted?

Yeah, I chose it. And when I was a kid being an actor was not cool. I’m thirty now and when I was a kid in the 80s that wasn’t a cool thing to be. Now I see with my niece that acting is like the thing. I don’t know if it’s because of the Disney Club or whatever, but all the boys are actors and in dance and stuff and I’m like, Wow, I got beat up every day because I was in ballet and I was an actor and that was, you know, “gay,” or whatever. But I always loved it as a kid and it’s something I’ve always done. There’s no right path and there’s no right way. Everyone does this differently. I’ve worked with actors before where I was like, this is not working, and then I’ve seen their work on the screen and I’ve been like, Wow, that was a really great performance. Because there are a lot of elements with film. It’s not like stage. It’s not a kind of performance art anymore; it’s a highly tuned kind of collaboration—a symphony. I take credit for all of it. (Laughs) No, but, it’s a goofy thing to act.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: MATT WEINER’S NEGOTIATION FOR A NEW DEAL WITH (PRODUCER) LIONSGATE AND AMC GOT PRETTY HEATED LAST FALL. WAS THERE A POINT WHERE YOU AND THE CAST THOUGHT YOU MIGHT HAVE A NEW BOSS THIS SEASON?
Elisabeth Moss: We were standing on the sidelines. We all talked about it, as you’d speculate on whether you’re going to have a job. We were unanimous in feeling that this was Matt’s show and we wanted him to get what he wanted, but at the same time, we wanted to go back and make more (episodes). I think we all would have followed Matt wherever he went, but we also love working with AMC. I am just happy it worked out.

THE GOSSIP MAGAZINES RECENTLY PUBLISHED A PHOTO FROM THE SET OF THE DRAPERS HOLDING A BABY, WHICH MUST HAVE REALLY TICKED OFF WEINER. HOW TIGHT IS HIS GRIP ON PLOT DETAILS?
Moss: It is so important to Matt, and to the way the story is told, that things remain secret if possible. But I can say that (this season) Peggy starts becoming more of Don’s protege and moves up in that world. She goes down paths that are wrong for her, but she is just trying to figure out what it means to be in her position in that man’s world. I don’t honestly know if she is going to figure it out. Does she have to be like Don, or can she be her own person?

FOR ALL THE ACCLAIM, SOME HAVE SUGGESTED THAT THE SHOW COULD GROW ITS AUDIENCE IF IT DIDN’T UNFOLD AT SUCH A DELIBERATE PACE. HAVE YOU NOTICED ANY CHANGES THIS SEASON?
Moss: We have our way of doing things. We like to not give people what they want right away, and it makes us what we are. It seems to have worked so far, so I think we’ll keep going.

MATT IS SAID TO BE DEMANDING WITH THE CAST. TRUE?
Moss: He’s the creator of the show, it’s his vision and he is very particular, so detail-oriented. And that’s what makes the show so great. Every single cast member would sing his praises. He has it in his head how he wants it to look, but he’s willing to work with your ideas.

YOU’RE FOLLOWING THIS SEASON WITH A ROLE IN THE JUDD APATOW-PRODUCED COMEDY “GET HIM TO THE GREEK.” WHAT’S THE STRATEGY FOR PICKING ROLES?
Moss: I don’t have any big strategy or master plan. It’s just a matter of what I believe in and what seems like a good project. I did a romantic comedy (with Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant) called “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” which seemed kind of fun, because I like to do things that are different from “Mad Men,” to stretch different muscles.

AND YOU DID “SPEED-THE-PLOW” ON BROADWAY AND GOT GREAT REVIEWS.
Moss: Theater is a very different experience than doing anything else. You spend six months doing one project over and over. On “Mad Men,” you do six scenes a day for seven days; then you’re done, you never see it again. But I don’t really prefer one over the other.

Jon Hamm plays the lead character of ‘Donald Draper’ in the award-winning, critically-acclaimed AMC original series “Mad Men,” created by Matthew Weiner, about the professional lives, social mores and sexual exploits of advertising executives on Madison Avenue circa 1960. Among his many accolades for his performance on the show, Hamm won the 2008 Golden Globe® Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama, and has been nominated for an Emmy® Award for Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Screen Actors Guild® Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (the cast received the award for Best Ensemble in a Drama Series at the 2009 Screen Actors Guild Awards).

Hamm will next be seen starring opposite James Franco, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels, and David Strathairn in the indie feature Howl, about poet Allen Ginsberg, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman.

Hamm recently starred opposite Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly and Kathy Bates in the sci-fi remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still directed by Scott Derrickson. He also completed work on the independent thriller The Boy in the Box, with Josh Lucas. Additional film credits include Kissing Jessica Stein, We Were Soldiers and Space Cowboys.

Hamm recently completed a three-episode arc on the Emmy-winning comedy, “30 Rock,” in which he played a love interest to Tina Fey, as well as a critically acclaimed hosting debut on “Saturday Night Live.” Other television credits include the popular Lifetime television series “The Division,” as well as “What About Brian,” “The Unit,” “Numb3rs” and “CSI Miami,” among others. He landed his first big role in the NBC series “Providence” where a cameo performance turned into an 18-episode run.

Hamm received BA in English from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

JANUARY JONES
“Betty Draper”

January Jones stars in AMC’s critically acclaimed Emmy®, Golden Globe® and SAG® Award- winning series, “Mad Men.” Set in the 1960s, Jones portrays ‘Betty Draper,’ a wife and young mother of high-powered, philandering advertising executive, ‘Donald Draper,’ played by Jon Hamm. Her performance in this role earned her a 2009 Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama.

Jones can next be seen in The Boat That Rocked, written and directed by Richard Curtis. The film is a period comedy about an illegal radio station in the North Sea in the 1960s. Jones stars opposite Academy Award®-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman and Academy Award-nominated Kenneth Branagh. The film was released in the UK on April 3, 2009 and will be released domestically on August 28, 2009.

In 2006, Jones starred in the critically acclaimed festival hit Swedish Auto. Jones portrays a woman torn between caring for her mother and leaving an abusive home. Also in 2006, she portrayed the real life character ‘Carol Dawson’ in Warner Brothers’ We Are Marshall. The McG-directed film stars Matthew Fox and Matthew McConaughey as the coaches of the Marshall College football team who died in a plane crash.

Jones is revered for her critically lauded performance in Sony Classics’ Three Burials of Meliquiades Estrada for director and actor Tommy Lee Jones. She portrays a young woman married to a border cop who accidentally murders an illegal immigrant. The film debuted to rave reviews at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005.

Jones previously starred in Universal’s American Wedding; Sony’s Anger Management alongside Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson; Universal’s Love Actually with Colin Firth and Keira Knightly; MGM’s Bandits with Billy Bob Thorton, Bruce Willis and Cate Blanchett for Director/Producer Barry Levinson; and Miramax’s Full Frontal directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Jones currently resides in Los Angeles.

VINCENT KARTHEISER
“Peter Campbell”

Vincent Kartheiser was born in Minneapolis, MN. Having appeared in many television shows including, “Sweet Justice” and “ER,” he is best known for his work on the hit FOX show “Angel” for the role of ‘Connor.’ He has also appeared in over a dozen features including, MGM’s Crime and Punishment in Suburbia directed by Rob Schmidt opposite Monica Keena; Larry Clark’s Another Day in Paradise for Trimark opposite James Woods and Melanie Griffith; and Dandelion (Sundance 2004) opposite Taryn Manning. When not acting, Kartheiser enjoys playing billiards, rock and mountain climbing and reading. He was named after Vincent Van Gogh and grew up surrounded by his works.

ELISABETH MOSS
“Peggy Olson”

Elisabeth Moss made her screen debut at the age of six and has been acting steadily honing her skills ever since. She has worked with some of Hollywood’s greats and has landed coveted roles in an array of film, television and theater projects for which she has received critical acclaim.

Moss currently stars on AMC’s Emmy® and two-time Golden Globe® Award-winning drama series “Mad Men,” set in the 1960s Madison Avenue advertising world. She plays ‘Peggy Olson,’ who has evolved from an ambitious yet naive secretary to a junior copywriter for ad executive ‘Donald Draper’ (Jon Hamm). For her performance, Moss was individually nominated for a 2009 Screen Actors Guild® Award in the category of Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She and her fellow cast mates won a 2009 SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

Moss garnered rave reviews for her Broadway debut in the revival of David Mamet’s Hollywood satire “Speed-the-Plow.” She played the female lead role of ‘Karen,’ a temp secretary who works for a movie producer (Jeremy Piven, followed by William H. Macy). The Los Angeles Times’ Charles McNyulty proclaimed, “Moss is a revelation, capturing not just Karen’s corporate cluelessness, but also her calculating quixotic strength.” The show opened on October 23, 2008 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre and ended its successful run on February 22, 2009.

Most recently, Moss has been cast to star alongside Jonah Hill and Russell Brand in producer Judd Apatow’s Get Him to the Greek for Universal Pictures. Moss will star as ‘Daphne Binks,’ the sweet and beautiful girlfriend of ‘Aaron Greenberg’ (Hill). Writer Nick Stoller will also direct. Production is currently underway in Los Angeles. She will also star alongside Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant in the romantic comedy Did You Hear About the Morgans?, which will be released in December. She plays the controlling executive assistant to Parker’s character. The screenplay was penned by Marc Lawrence (Music and Lyrics, Two Weeks Notice), who is also directing.

Her feature credits include director Ron Howard’s The Missing with Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones; director James Mangold’s Girl, Interrupted with Angelina Jolie and Winona Ryder; Writer/Director Lawrence Kasdan’s Mumford; A Thousand Acres opposite Michelle Pfeiffer and Michelle Williams; Bittersweet Place opposite Seymour Cassel; The Joyriders with Martin Landau; and Imaginary Crimes with Harvey Keitel.

Moss was nominated for a 2004 Independent Spirit Award for Best Actress for her starring role in the independent feature Virgin. She made her singing debut in Writer/Director Marc Erlbaum’s comedy Buddy Gilbert Comes Alive. She has also wrapped production on the independent films Day Zero with Elijah Wood and Chris Klein; Director Michael Almereyda’s New Orleans, Mon Amour; and El Camino with Leo Fitzpatrick.

In 2006, Moss completed her seventh season on NBC’s “The West Wing,” where she played ‘Zoey Bartlet,’ the daughter of the President (Martin Sheen). She had a recurring role on ABC’s “Invasion,” and she has guest-starred on such shows as NBC’s “Fear Itself,” “Medium,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and “Law & Order: Trial By Jury”; and ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The Practice.”

Moss’ impressive repertoire of television credits also includes a co-starring role opposite Susan Sarandon in HBO Pictures’ off-beat road comedy, “Earthly Possessions,” directed by James Lapine. She played a young ‘Ashley Judd’ in the CBS mini-series “The Judds: Love Will Build a Bridge,” and she starred with Bette Midler in CBS’s remake of “Gypsy,” in the role of a young ‘Gypsy Rose Lee.’

She made her stage debut in 2002 in the title role of ‘Franny’ in Richard Nelson’s “Franny’s Way” at the Atlantic Theater, and she reprised the role for the Los Angeles premiere of the play at the acclaimed Geffen Playhouse.

Moss was born and raised in Los Angeles and trained in ballet since the age of five. She went on to attend a number of prestigious ballet schools including the School of American Ballet in New York and also studied with Suzanne Farrell at the Kennedy Center.

CHRISTINA HENDRICKS
“Joan Holloway”

With a body of work that encompasses television and film, Christina Hendricks is quickly positioning herself as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after talents as her career continues to evolve with exciting and challenging projects.

Hendricks stars in the critically acclaimed AMC drama “Mad Men,” about the lives of the ruthless men and women who work in the competitive world of Madison Avenue advertising during the 1960s. Hendricks has received critical acclaim for her flawless portrayal of ‘Joan Holloway,’ the brash and sassy office manager at the Sterling Cooper advertising agency. “Mad Men” has won the Golden Globe® for Best Television Show Drama, the Emmy® Award for Best Drama and the SAG® Award for Best Ensemble Cast.

Hendricks began her career as the opportunistic, career climbing intern on Showtime’s “Beggars and Choosers,” which led to a production deal with John Wells. Her other television credits include starring with Taye Diggs in the comedy “Kevin Hill,” the TNT original series “The Big Time,” and ABC’s “The Court” in which she starred opposite Sally Field. Hendricks had a recurring role on the extremely successful drama series “ER” and also recurred on Joss Whedon’s “Firefly,” “Life” and “Notes From the Underbelly.” Additionally, Hendricks has guest starred on some of primetime’s highest rated shows including “Cold Case,” “Without a Trace” and “Las Vegas.”

In film, Hendricks recently joined the cast of Hyde Park Films’ independent drama Leonie. The film is based on the life story of Leonie Gilmour (Emily Mortimer), the American wife of Japanese writer Yong Noguchi and mother of designer/sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Hendricks portrays Leonie’s lifelong friend Catherine. Her other film credits include La Cucina, South of Pico and Driving Lessons with Dermot Mulroney and Hope Davis.

A native of Idaho, Hendricks a currently resides in Los Angeles.

JOHN SLATTERY
“Roger Sterling”

John Slattery is a respected actor in the Hollywood community and a veteran of TV, film and stage.

This year, Slattery was nominated for an Emmy® Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of ‘Roger Sterling’ in the critically acclaimed AMC series “Mad Men.” The show became the first basic cable program to win Best Drama Series at the 2008 Primetime Emmy Awards.

Slattery has appeared on the big screen in numerous films including, most recently, Clint Eastwood’s critically acclaimed Flags of Our Fathers; Mike Nichols’ Charlie Wilson’s War; and Terry George’s Reservation Road.

Additional film credits include Mona Lisa Smile opposite Julia Roberts for director Mike Newell; Thomas McCarthy’s The Station Agent; Joel Schumacher’s Bad Company; and Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic.

Slattery is instantly recognizable from his roles on television as well. Most recently, in addition to co-starring for two seasons on “Mad Men,” he had a substantial story arc as ‘Victor Lang’ on the hit ABC series “Desperate Housewives.” In 2007, Slattery was nominated as part of both shows’ ensemble casts for the SAG® Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble.

His additional TV credits include the ABC series “Homefront,” the comedy series “Ed,” HBO’s “K Street” and the drama “Jack & Bobby.” He has also been seen in highly memorable guest appearances on “Sex & The City,” and “Will & Grace.”

In theater, Slattery has appeared on Broadway in the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Rabbit Hole,” for which he was nominated for a Drama League Award, the Broadway revival of “Betrayal” and opposite Nathan Lane in Neil Simon’s “Laughter on the 23rd Floor.” His Off-Broadway credits include the original production of “Three Days of Rain,” which earned him the LA Drama Critics Award and a Drama Desk nomination.

Slattery is a Boston native who currently resides in New York City with his wife and son.

BRYAN BATT
“Salvatore Romano”

The 2008 SAG® Award-winning actor Bryan Batt is series regular ‘Salvatore Romano’ in the critically acclaimed, multi award-winning dramatic series “Mad Men.” Batt has received rave reviews for his nuanced performance in the brilliantly written and ever stylish series, which encompasses the steamy world of 1960s Madison Avenue.

In addition to “Mad Men,” Batt will appear in the new Judd Apatow/Adam Sandler film Funny People set for release July 31.

Batt is also a Broadway veteran, civic activist, designer, and co-owner of HAZELNUT, a fine gift and home accessories shop in his home town of New Orleans. HAZELNUT has been featured in The New York Times, House Beautiful, and Southern Accents. Batt has recently appeared on CNN, “Martha Stewart” as well as “Regis & Kelly.” His debut book, an irreverent “memoir” entitled She Ain’t Heavy, She’s My Mother, is set for a spring 2010 release published by Harmony Books, a division of Random House.

This charming and diversified southern gentleman lives tri-coastally, splitting his life between New York, Los Angeles, and New Orleans.

MICHAEL GLADIS
“Paul Kinsey”

Michael Gladis has spent the last seven years in New York City acting in the theater as well as in film and on TV. Some of his on-camera credits include roles in K-19: The Widowmaker, a recurring role on “Third Watch,” as well as guest starring roles on “Life,” “Hack,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” and “Hope and Faith.”

His extensive theatrical experience includes the revival of “5th of July” at the Signature Theater; the smash hit “Baal” at the Flea Theater; the Best in the 2004 NY Fringe Festival’s “Dog Sees God;” a national tour of “Romeo & Juliet;” as well as “The Main(e) Play” and “’Nami,” both with his theater company Partial Comfort Productions, amongst many others.

AARON STATON
“Ken Cosgrove”

Aaron Staton is a 2004 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater. After making his Broadway debut in “Mamma Mia!” he went on to star in the title role of the Manhattan Theatre Club production of “The American Pilot,” which garnered critical acclaim.

He has appeared in the films August Rush from Warner Bros., directed by Kristen Sheridan and The Nanny Diaries from The Weinstein Co. and directed by Shari Berman and Robert Pulcini.

RICH SOMMER
“Harry Crane”

Rich Sommer’s extensive stage credits include ‘Todd’ in “Far Away;” ‘Mike’ in “A Lie of the Mind;” and ‘William Gibbs’ in “Off the Map.” He has several national commercials to his credit and is set to appear in the upcoming NBC miniseries “The Storm” premiering in July. Sommer made a guest appearance in Season 5 of “The Office” as Pam’s art school classmate, ‘Alex.’ He made his feature film debut as Anne Hathaway’s drinking buddy ‘Doug’ in The Devil Wears Prada.

He is a student, performer and teacher of improvisation and received his training and experience with The Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis and the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York. Sommer received his Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre Arts from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. He went on to study at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, where he received both his Master’s Degree in Acting and his lovely wife, Virginia. They live in Los Angeles with their tiny daughter, Beatrice.

ROBERT MORSE
“Bertram Cooper”

Robert Morse won Tony® Awards for both Best Actor in a Play and Best Actor in a Musical. His musical award came in 1962 with his unforgettable performance as ‘J. Pierrepont Finch’ in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Frank Loesser/Abe Burrows/Bob Fosse musical (and reprised in the film version) of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” His dramatic nod came in 1990 with his triumphant portrayal of Truman Capote in the tour de force, one-man show, Tru. The PBS presentation of “Tru” later earned him a 1993 Emmy® Award as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Special as well.

On television, Morse appeared in a continuing role in the medical drama “City of Angels,” and in an Oliver Stone miniseries “Wild Palms,” among various memorable TV guest appearances.

Here are the goodies.

From the washingtonpost.com:
Kalamazoo, Mich.: Half the fun of watching “Mad Men” is figuring out what Matt Weiner really meant. Does the cast do that, too? And, was there an episode that puzzled all of you?

Rich Sommer: I have no idea what Matt means in many of these scripts, but I don’t think it matters. I had a professor tell me in grad school that theme is not the actor’s job, so I took that to heart.

Sometimes, Matt will grab me and say, “you know this episode is about X, right?” And I will say, “sure, sure.” And it’s always enlightening, because it feels like a code being cracked. But I don’t work too hard on trying to figure it out on my own, because I’m not that smart.

Bethesda, Md: For some reason, the part that I remember most from “Mad Men” is when you “accidentally” open your coworker’s check and then realized you ruined the envelope. I could actually see the sweat bullets coming off your face. As an actor, do you call up a time in your life when you were panicky nervous for such a scene? Or do you just ‘wing it?’

Rich Sommer: I loved that scene. I have certainly had moments where something fell in may lap that shouldn’t be there, and I was faced with the choice of doing the right thing or doing the shady thing. Good ol’ Harry let me play out the shady thing.

But as far as any sense memory or anything like that, no. I think the situation we had set up was tense enough, so it made my job easy.

Have I mentioned that our writers are amazing?

Minneapolis: It seems like a cast of very talented, smart, grounded folks. Are there any signs that egos are growing?

Rich Sommer: Not that I’ve seen. Jon Hamm remains one of the greatest guys in the world to work with, and one of the greatest to grab a beer with after work. The same can be said for the whole group.

I work with amazing people. They blow my mind every day I have the chance to be around them.

Michael Gladis and I went to play pool yesterday, and then decided, on a whim, to track down a Bingo game. We ended up at a hall in Canoga Park, Calif. It was awesome.

Wait — did I get off track there?

No. No egos.

San Bruno, Calif.: How do you prepare for your role in “Mad Men”?

Are there any specific books or movies of the era that you refer to?

Have you talked to the Mad Men of that era?

Rich Sommer: I skimmed the Mirror Makers (is that what it’s called?), and I finally watched “The Apartment.”

But, no, I didn’t do much research beyond specific things mentioned in the script. Like I said earlier, I think we’re at our best when we’re playing the characters in the context of their current scene, and worrying less about the times they’re in. Does that make sense?

From Movieline:

As hard as it is to believe, though, the actor still isn’t quite a household name. But this could be the year when things “finally catch up” to Harris, as he puts it: He played the seafaring Captain Mike in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, relishing his key role as the man who introduces an adolescent-convolescent to the simple pleasures of whores and whiskey. (If you missed it, Button is out on DVD and Blu-Ray today.) And in another exciting development, he’s just been announced as the newest addition to AMC’s Mad Men. Joining the cult-worshipped show in its third season, Harris will play Lane Pryce, Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency’s new financial officer.

You’ve had an incredibly prolific career. Did you set out to have a career where you appear to be in so many places at once? And I know you’re called a chameleon a lot — is that something you actively sought out?
A couple years ago I went in for an audition for a film Danny DeVito was directing. And I walked in the door, and he goes, “I couldn’t wait to meet you! I was so excited to watch you walk in that door, because I’ve seen all the stuff that you’ve done, and I had no idea what you were going to look like. So I was really fascinated to see who was going to walk through the wall. It’s amazing, all the things that you’ve done.” So I said, “Thank you very much.” And he said, “I’m not sure if that really is a compliment.” And I said, “Sorry?” And he goes, “That’s a big risk, buddy.” I said, “What do you mean?” He says, “Well, you gotta hope that it catches up to you.” I said, “I don’t know what you mean.” He said, “Let me explain to you. A successful actor is a recognizable actor. You’re different in everything you do. You start from scratch every single time. It’s damn risky, but good luck to you. It’s ballsy.”

So I hear exactly what you’re saying, and it’s been a hindrance in that sense, in that people can’t put a name to the face. But at the same time, that’s what I love about acting. I love getting into the character and being unrecognizable. I think I just thought that eventually it would catch up, but it seems like it’s taken quite a long time to do that.

When are we going to see a film revolve around you?
Yeah, I mean you know. Again, that happens. The way that films are financed nowadays is that they’re financed on the back of your two or three famous leads, so if you’re not at that level of recognition, then you’re not going to be playing those parts.

Some people might not remember that you were in Far and Away. Any memories from that shoot?
I remember standing next to Tom Cruise on a hillside on the west coast of Ireland, and we were trying to figure out how to end the scene, and we decided we’d end it by using him to plow the fields — by grabbing each of his legs and dragging him. And he goes, “That’s a great idea! We’ll end it like that.” [He laughs.] But the whole field was covered in goat shit and donkey shit. So Tom says, “So…they’re uh, going to clear out all the … goat shit, right?” And Ron goes, “Um…I think, you know, that would take a week. We don’t have the time to do that.” So Tom says, “Right. Well what if they just drag me on my back, then?” He didn’t really want to go face first, which I completely understand.