Friends with Kids is an independent American ensemble comedy that is written, produced, directed by and also starring Jennifer Westfeldt. Her partner Jon Hamm also stars in the movie, along with Kristen Wiig, Adam Scott, and Megan Fox. Shooting began in 2010 in New York.

Plot[link]

Friends with Kids revolves around Jason (an advertising executive) and Julie (a charitable investment advisor), a pair of longtime best friends in their 30s who live in the same building in Manhattan. While not involved romantically, Jason and Julie are close friends with two childless married couples, the placid Alex and Leslie and the sex-obsessed Ben and Missy. During the next four years, after both couples have children, their marriages suffer. Following a chaotic birthday party for Jason at Alex and Leslie's place in Brooklyn, Jason and Julie discuss how it would be better to have children first and only then meet the person that you wanted to marry. After more discussion, they decide to have a child together, despite never even having a romantic relationship, and then to date other people. Although their friends predicted disaster, Jason and Julie adjust to their new relationship with baby Joe far better than their friends had.^[1]

However, their stable relationship begins to slip when Jason first begins dating Mary Jane, a Broadway dancer, and Julie then begins dating Kurt, a divorced construction contractor with children of his own. Mary Jane does not want children, and Kurt says that he doesn't want Julie to meet his children until they become serious. The two couples take Joe on a skiing vacation to Vermont with Alex and Leslie, Ben and Missy, and their kids. Upon arrival, the tension between Ben and Missy is obvious, and everything comes to a head during dinner when an intoxicated Ben begins attacking Jason and Julie's unusual relationship. Jason responds with a passionate and articulate defense of his and Julie's situation and his complete trust in her, which prompts Ben to storm off and catches Julie by surprise.

After Vermont, Ben and Missy separate and divorce. Shortly thereafter, at Julie's birthday (about 18 months after Joe's birth), Jason is surprised to learn that she invited only him to her birthday dinner. Julie tells him that Kurt wants her to meet his children that weekend . . . but that she has realized that she is in love with Jason, who, along with Joe, constitutes her family. A stunned Jason tells Julie that he has never had romantic feelings for her and is with Mary Jane. Heartbroken, Julie moves out of her Manhattan apartment to Brooklyn, to put some space between herself and Jason. A few months thereafter, Jason and Mary Jane break up over their differing feelings about children, and both Julie and Jason return to dating. Several months later, at a bar with Ben, Jason confides that he does have feelings for Julie, but that their messy split makes acting on such feelings impossible. Ben disagrees, noting the differences between his and Missy's sex-based relationship and Jason and Julie's long-lasting friendship.

Shortly before Julie's next birthday, while dropping a 2-1/2-year-old Joe off at Julie's house, Jason presents her with an early birthday present: a photo book of the three of them, consistent with Julie's prior statement that Jason and Joe were her family. Jason tells Julie that he's been in love with her for years, although he never realized it until now. Jason's sudden shift makes Julie emotional and uncomfortable, but eventually they end up in bed together for the first time (other than Joe's conception).

Cast[link]

• Adam Scott as Jason^[1]
• Jennifer Westfeldt as Julie^[1]
• Kristen Wiig as Missy^[1]
• Jon Hamm as Ben^[1]
• Maya Rudolph as Leslie
• Chris O'Dowd as Alex
• Edward Burns as Kurt
• Megan Fox as Mary Jane^[1][2]

Production[link]

Friends with Kids is directed, written, produced and also starring Jennifer Westfeldt.^[1] This will be her directorial debut.^[2] Her partner, actor Jon Hamm, also agreed to play a supporting part and help produce her feature film.^[1] The idea for Friends With Kids had been floating around after Westfeldt and Hamm noticed that friends were starting to have families and 'all but disappearing from their lives.' Cast member Adam Scott admitted that the couple's suspicion was not baseless, as he and his wife had become “the worst friends to Jen and Jon because we were so busy” after getting married and having children.^[3] She was encouraged to move forward with her idea after an informal reading of the screenplay took place at her and Hamm's home in late 2010.

This film is notable for its cast consisting of four of the Bridesmaids cast; Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Chris O'Dowd and Jon Hamm.

It was always planned that Hamm would star in the movie, but in a role where he would not be paired-up with his real-life partner.^[3] However, this left only a few months open between when Hamm finished doing the fourth season of Mad Men and would resume for a fifth to get Friends with Kids off the ground and ready to shoot. According to one of the producers, resources for the production were easy to find. "The impossible algorithm is to line up the cast, the calendar and the cash in such a way that you get to make the movie,” said co-producer Joshua Astrachan. "It just never is that easy to put an independent film together."^[3]

Principal photography lasted for four weeks,^[4] beginning in New York during December 2010^[2] and carrying out into early 2011.^[5] With a budget of less than US$10 million, Friends with Kids was made by Red Granite Pictures, Points West Pictures, and Locomotive. Red Granite Pictures led by Riza Aziz and Joey McFarland also fully financed the film and distributed it internationally through Red Granite's distribution arm led by Danny Dimbort and Christian Mercuri.^[1][3][3]

Release[link]

The film premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2011.^[6] On September 21, 2011, Lionsgate announced that it had acquired the distribution rights to the film.^[7]

It is scheduled for release in Sweden on June 1, 2012, Canada on March 9, 2012, and Australia on June 7, 2012.

Critical response[link]

Reviews of the film were mixed. It has received a 64% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 103 reviews and an average rating of 6.5/10.^[8] It also has a score of 55 on Metacritic based on 34 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[9]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Friends with Kids at AllRovi
• Friends with Kids at the Internet Movie Database
• Friends with Kids at Metacritic
• Friends with Kids at Rotten Tomatoes

Kristen Wiig
Kristen Wiig, 2009
Born	Kristen Carroll Wiig (1973-08-22) August 22, 1973 (age 38) Canandaigua, New York, U.S.[1]
Occupation	Actress, comedienne
Years active	2000–present
Spouse	Hayes Hargrove (2005–09)[2]
Website
kristenwiig.com

Kristen Carroll Wiig (pronounced /ˈwiːɡ/; born August 22, 1973) is an American actress, comedienne, and writer. She is best known for her work as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2005 to 2012. Wiig was a member of the improvisational comedy troupe The Groundlings,^[1][3] and has appeared in several films and television series, including Bridesmaids, MacGruber, Flight of the Conchords, Adventureland, and Paul. Her voice acting credits include "Ruffnut" in How to Train Your Dragon, "Miss Hattie" in Despicable Me and "Lola Bunny" in the series The Looney Tunes Show.

In 2011, Wiig co-wrote and starred in Bridesmaids, receiving nominations for her acting from the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild and for her writing from the Academy and from BAFTA.^[4]

Early life[link]

Wiig was born in Canandaigua, New York, the daughter of Laurie J. (née Johnston), an artist, and Jon J. Wiig, who ran a lake marina in Upstate New York.^[5][6] Her father is of Norwegian and Irish ancestry and her mother is of English and Scottish descent.^[7] The name "Wiig" hails from the area of Sogn og Fjordane in Norway.^[8] She moved with her family to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at the age of three. Wiig later moved to Rochester, New York, where she attended and graduated from Brighton High School.^[9] After a short stint at Roanoke College, Wiig went on to attend the University of Arizona with a major in art.^[10] She took an acting class in university to fulfill a course requirement; her teacher suggested she continue to act.^[10] She dropped out and relocated to Los Angeles, where she joined The Groundlings while working odd jobs to support herself.^[10]

Career[link]

Television[link]

Wiig's work has mostly been in comedy, including performing at the Empty Stage Comedy Theatre.^[11] In 2003, she appeared in the Spike TV show The Joe Schmo Show, a spoof of reality television, in which she played "Dr. Pat", the quack marriage counselor.^[11]

Kristen Wiig at the SXSW 2011

Wiig debuted on Saturday Night Live shortly into Season 31, on November 12, 2005.^[3] She survived an SNL budget cut,^[12] becoming a full member of the repertory cast at the beginning of Season 32 in 2006. Her characters include Penelope, a neurotic attention-seeker; Kat, half of the musical duo Garth and Kat (frequently appearing on Weekend Update alongside Fred Armisen); Dooneese Maharelle on the Lawrence Welk show; Mindy Grayson in the Secret Word sketches, Gilly, a highly mischievous schoolgirl; Sue, who can't control her excitement over surprises; The Target Lady, a clerk at the chain store and kitsch collector; Shanna, a sexy woman whose actions and stories gross people out; Cheryl Bryant, a TV game show host who gives away big prizes and is always more excited about the prize than the winners are; Judy Grimes, a nervous travel agent; Toni Ward, predatory host of the Cougar Den; and Aunt Linda, a hard-to-please movie critic, both frequently appearing on Weekend Update. She has also played real-life people such as Björk, Suze Orman, Lana Del Rey, Kathie Lee Gifford, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Drew Barrymore, Taylor Swift, Christine O'Donnell, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, and socialite Kris Jenner.

Wiig was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series^[13] for her work on Saturday Night Live (2009,^[14] 2010, 2011).^[15]

In December 2009, she headlined in the Christmas Special SNL Presents: A Very Gilly Christmas, which featured new sketches with her character Gilly and highlights of older clips.^{[citation needed]}

Following Amy Poehler's departure in Season 34 to work on the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation, Wiig was the only female regular cast member on SNL until Abby Elliott was promoted to a repertory player in Season 36.^{[citation needed]}

Wiig was featured in Entertainment Weekly's list of 15 Great Performances for her various impersonations on Saturday Night Live^[16] (December 2008) and in EW's list of the 25 Funniest Women in Hollywood (April 2009).^[17] As of 2011, she has a role as the voice of Lola Bunny in the series The Looney Tunes Show.

Wiig's final performance as a cast member on Saturday Night Live was Season 37, Episode 22, which aired on May 19, 2012.^[18] The show was hosted by Mick Jagger. The closing celebration included SNL alumni Amy Poehler, Chris Kattan, Chris Parnell, Will Forte and Rachel Dratch, as well as Steve Martin.

Film[link]

Wiig made her big-screen debut in Judd Apatow’s 2007 comedy Knocked Up as a passive-aggressive assistant. She also performed in Jake Kasdan's Walk Hard, another Apatow-produced film, and in David Koepp's Ghost Town. Wiig has also appeared in Greg Mottola's Adventureland, Mike Judge's Extract, and in Whip It, Drew Barrymore's directorial debut. Wiig also had a lead role in Greg Mottola's Paul. Wiig also appeared as the yoga teacher in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

In 2010, she appeared in the films MacGruber, the animated comedy Despicable Me, and Andrew Jarecki's All Good Things.

In 2011, she starred in the film Bridesmaids, which she co-wrote with fellow Groundlings performer Annie Mumolo for Universal Pictures, released on May 13, 2011.^[19] The film became both a critical and box office success, receiving two nominations for Best Picture-Musical or Comedy and Wiig herself was nominated for Best Actress-Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy at the 69th Golden Globe Awards. The film also received two Academy Award nominations, including Best Original Screenplay for which Wiig and Mumolo were nominated. The second nomination was for Best Supporting Actress for co-star Melissa McCarthy. The movie grossed over $280 million worldwide.^[20]

Personal life[link]

Kristen Wiig was married to actor Hayes Hargrove from 2005 until 2009.^[21]

Filmography[link]

TV[link]

Film[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

• She was named one of PETA's Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrities of 2011.^[30]
• She is part of Time's 2012 list of The 100 Most Influential People in the World.^[31]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kristen Wiig

• Kristen Wiig at the Internet Movie Database
• Kristen Wiig at Emmys.com

Maya Rudolph
Rudolph at the "Up All Night" Cast at Paley Center 2012
Born	Maya Khabira Rudolph (1972-07-27) July 27, 1972 (age 39) Gainesville, Florida, U.S.
Alma mater	Porter College, (UC Santa Cruz) B.A., 1993
Occupation	Actress, comedienne, singer
Years active	1996–present
Partner	Paul Thomas Anderson
Children	3
Parents	Minnie Riperton Richard Rudolph
Notes [1][2]

Maya Khabira Rudolph (born July 27, 1972) is an American actress, comedienne and singer who was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2000 to 2007, and has appeared in films such as Away We Go, Bridesmaids, Grown Ups, A Prairie Home Companion and MacGruber. She is the daughter of R&B and soul singer Minnie Riperton and music producer/composer Richard Rudolph. Since 2011, she has co-starred in the NBC sitcom Up All Night.

Early life[link]

Rudolph was born in Gainesville, Florida. She is the daughter of soul singer Minnie Riperton and composer/songwriter/producer Richard Rudolph. Her father is Ashkenazi Jewish and her mother was African-American.^[3][4] Her paternal grandfather was Sidney Rudolph, a philanthropist who once owned all of the Wendy's and Rudy's restaurants in Dade County, FL.^[5] Her parents moved to Los Angeles when she and her brother Marc were very young, and they grew up primarily in the Westwood section.^[2]

Rudolph was in the studio with her mother on the day Riperton recorded "Lovin' You",^{[citation needed]} Near the end of the track, Riperton can be heard singing "Maya, Maya, Maya" to Rudolph. Riperton incorporated this into her performance of the song on The Midnight Special.^[6] Riperton died on July 12, 1979, at age 31, from breast cancer, just shy of Rudolph's seventh birthday.^[2] Rudolph's godmother was R&B singer Teena Marie.^[7]

Education[link]

Growing up, Rudolph attended high school at Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California, where she became friendly with fellow alumna Gwyneth Paltrow, and continued her education at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she graduated in 1995 with a B.A. in photography from Porter College.^[8]

Career[link]

[edit] Saturday Night Live

In May 2000, Rudolph joined the cast of Saturday Night Live as a featured player for the final three episodes of the 1999–2000 season, after a stint as a member of The Groundlings improv troupe, where she met future Saturday Night Live cast member Will Forte.^[2]

Rudolph's characters on the show have included "Attorney Glenda Goodwin" and "Megan" from the "Wake Up, Wakefield!" sketches. Rudolph has performed impressions of Oprah Winfrey, Christina Aguilera, Condoleezza Rice, Paris Hilton, Teresa Heinz Kerry, Tyra Banks, Patti LaBelle, Beyoncé, Liza Minnelli, LaToya Jackson, Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Rocsi and Marie "Free" Wright (of 106 & Park), and designer Donatella Versace.

Rudolph's musical talents were frequently employed on Saturday Night Live. She sang as Beyoncé Knowles in the Prince Show sketches, as the "Space Creature" in the Gays in Space sketches (except for the one on the Season 31 episode hosted by Peter Sarsgaard, because it aired around the time Rudolph was on maternity leave. (Friend Will Forte substituted for her during that episode.) Her ability to change her looks and her command of many accents also led to her playing an unusually wide range of ethnicities on the show, often with only a change of wigs. She has been white (Paris Hilton, Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand, Lisa Kudrow), Asian (Lucy Liu, Lisa Ling), black (Diana Ross, Tina Turner), and Latina (Charo). As "Nooni Schoener," Rudolph, along with Fred Armisen (who, like Rudolph, is multiracial), created a couple from an unspecified Scandinavian country, who have unplaceable accents and bewilderingly foreign manners. Rudolph was also able to play male characters such as Scott Joplin, Justin Guarini, and Mario Vazquez.

Her final show was on November 3, 2007, with host Brian Williams and musical guest Feist, the last episode before the writers' strike. She returned on October 25, 2008, in a featured guest appearance as Michelle Obama and sang a duet with Kenan Thompson about Amy Poehler's newborn. She then also appeared in the 2008 Christmas episode, where she reprised her role in the sketch Bronx Beat, with Amy Poehler. She also appeared in two sketches in the 2008–2009 season finale with Will Ferrell. She appeared in a Weekend Update Thursday sketch during the fall 2009–10 season as Oprah Winfrey speaking on behalf of Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics. She also appeared on the show in May 2010 to perform in skits including "The Manuel Ortiz Show" with Betty White.

She returned to Saturday Night Live for the Season 36 premiere, hosted by Amy Poehler, performing the "Bronx Beat" sketch and that same season for episode 700, hosted by Tina Fey.^[9]

On February 18,2012 she returned to Saturday Night Live as a host for the first time and reprised her roles in sketches such as "Bronx Beat".

Television and film[link]

In addition to her work on Saturday Night Live, Rudolph has appeared on other television shows, including the CBS medical drama series City of Angels and Chicago Hope.

She had small parts in Chuck & Buck, Gattaca, As Good as It Gets, Duplex and Duets; she was also a music supervisor for Duets. Her first prominent film role came in 2006 with A Prairie Home Companion. Earlier, she had co-starred with Luke Wilson in the 2005 Mike Judge sci-fi comedy Idiocracy, although that film was shelved until September 2006 and then only given a limited release. She also guest starred as Rapunzel in the DreamWorks animated film Shrek the Third. She guest starred as Julia in the The Simpsons episode "The Homer of Seville". Rudolph guest starred as character Athena Scooberman in NBC's Kath & Kim, and starred in the film Away We Go with The Office star John Krasinski. In 2010, she appeared in Grown Ups starring Adam Sandler, where she played the wife of Chris Rock's character. In 2011 she appeared in Bridesmaids, together with Saturday Night Live colleague Kristen Wiig. Since 2011, she has co-starred in NBC's latest sitcom, Up All Night, with Christina Applegate and Will Arnett.

Music[link]

Prior to joining Saturday Night Live, Rudolph was backing singer (1995-1999)^[1] and briefly a keyboardist in the band The Rentals, with whom she toured for a short time.^[2] She also appears in the music videos of the songs "Waiting" and "Please Let That Be You" by the band. She sang backing vocals for "Barcelona" and "My Head Is in the Sun," both from the album Seven More Minutes. In 2004, she recorded a track with the Rentals frontman Matt Sharp, including a cover of Tegan and Sara's "Not Tonight." Rudolph also performed "Together In Pooping" and "Little Roundworm" with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (Robert Smigel) on his album Come Poop With Me.

Personal life[link]

Rudolph lives with director Paul Thomas Anderson and their three children — daughters Pearl Minnie (born October 15, 2005) and Lucille (born November 6, 2009),^[10] and son Jack (born July 3, 2011).^[11]

[edit] Recurring characters on Saturday Night Live

• Appreciante
• Megan, one of the co-hosts of "Wake Up, Wakefield!"
• Jackie
• Jodi Dietz, one of the co-hosts of "Bronx Beat"
• Beertje Van Beers
• Mrs. Denmont
• Britanica of Gemini's Twin
• Leilani Burke
• Rebecca
• Cocktail Waitress
• Space Creature
• Casey
• Charli Coffee
• Glenda Goodwin
• Patti Sylviac
• Nuni Schoener

[edit] Celebrity impressions on Saturday Night Live

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Maya Rudolph at the Internet Movie Database

Jon Hamm
Hamm at the Vancouver Olympics in February 2010
Born	Jonathan Daniel Hamm (1971-03-10) March 10, 1971 (age 41) St. Louis, Missouri United States
Alma mater	University of Missouri
Occupation	Actor, Director
Years active	2000–present
Partner	Jennifer Westfeldt (1997–present)

Jonathan Daniel "Jon" Hamm (born March 10, 1971) is an American actor best known for playing advertising executive Don Draper in the AMC drama series Mad Men, which premiered in July 2007. His performance on the show earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series in 2008.

Early life[link]

Hamm was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Daniel and Deborah Hamm. His father ran a family trucking company and his mother was a secretary.^[1][2] Hamm's parents divorced when he was two, and he lived with his mother in Creve Coeur, Missouri,^[2] until she was diagnosed with terminal abdominal cancer when he was 10.^[3] Hamm then moved in with his father,^[4] who died when Hamm was 20.

Hamm's first acting role was as Winnie-the-Pooh in first grade. At 16, he was cast as Judas in Godspell.^[5] Although he enjoyed the experience, he did not take acting seriously. Hamm attended John Burroughs School in Ladue, Missouri, where he was a member of the football, baseball, and swim teams.^[6] Following graduation in 1989, Hamm enrolled at the University of Texas,^[7] where he was a member of the Upsilon Chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity.^[8] Hamm returned home to attend the University of Missouri after his father's death.^[7] At Missouri, he auditioned for and won a role in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.^[4] Other roles followed, including Leon Czolgosz in Assassins.

After graduating in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English,^[9] Hamm returned to his high school to teach eighth-grade acting.^[2][4][10] One of his students was Ellie Kemper, an actress best known for her role on The Office and as Hamm's co-star in Bridesmaids.^[11]

Career[link]

Early work[link]

Hamm relocated to Los Angeles in 1995.^[12] He moved into a house with four other aspiring actors and began waiting tables while attending auditions.^[4]

He found employment as an actor difficult despite representation by the William Morris Endeavor.^[13] In 1998, having failed to obtain any acting jobs after three years,^[1] he was dropped by William Morris. Hamm continued working as a waiter,^[4] and briefly took a job as a set designer for a softcore pornography film.^[14] After repeatedly failing to find acting jobs, he set his thirtieth birthday as a deadline to succeed in Hollywood,^[5] observing that:

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.^[4]

In 2000, Hamm was cast as firefighter Burt Ridley on NBC's drama series Providence.^[15][16] Hamm made his feature film debut in Clint Eastwood's 2000 space adventure Space Cowboys. His role consisted of one line. More substantial roles followed in the independent comedy Kissing Jessica Stein (2001)^[17] and the war film We Were Soldiers (2002).^[18] Hamm played the recurring role of police inspector Nate Basso on Lifetime's television series The Division from 2002 to 2004.^[15][16] Other television appearances included roles in What About Brian, CSI: Miami, Related, Numb3rs, The Unit, and The Sarah Silverman Program.^[15][16]

Breakthrough role[link]

Hamm's breakthrough role came in 2007 when he was chosen from more than 80 candidates^[14] to portray protagonist Don Draper in AMC's drama series Mad Men, despite initial concerns by director Alan Taylor and Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner that he was too handsome for the role. In the series, set in a fictional 1960s advertising agency, he plays a suave advertising executive with a mysterious past.^[19] Hamm recalled, "I read the script for Mad 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."^[20]

Hamm in November 2008

Mad Men debuted July 19, 2007, with almost 1.4 million viewers.^[21] It quickly developed a loyal audience, with both the show and Hamm receiving strong reviews. Robert Bianco of USA Today was complimentary of Hamm, noting that his interpretation of Draper was a "star-making performance".^[22] The Boston Globe's Matthew Gilbert called Hamm a "brilliant lead".^[23]

Hamm appeared in the 2008 science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still, a remake of the 1951 film of the same name.^[24] Although the film received negative reviews,^[25] it was financially successful, earning $230 million worldwide at the box office.^[26] Hamm hosted Saturday Night Live on October 25, 2008,^[27] as well as on January 30 and October 30, 2010.^[28][29] In 2009, Hamm appeared in three episodes of the NBC comedy 30 Rock as Dr. Drew Baird, a neighbor and love interest of Liz Lemon, portrayed by Tina Fey.^[30] For his work on the sitcom, he received an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.^[31] On December 12, 2010, Hamm lent his voice to Fox's animated series The Simpsons, portraying an FBI supervisor.^[32]

Hamm's first leading film role was in 2009's Stolen, an independent mystery thriller in which he portrayed a father attempting to discover the circumstances surrounding his son's kidnapping.^[33][34] The Hollywood Reporter's Frank Scheck stated that the feature never came together, and added that Hamm was unable to do much with his "underwritten role".^[35] Hamm had a voice cameo in the animated feature Shrek Forever After, released in May 2010, as an ogre named Brogan.^[36] Also in 2010, Hamm appeared opposite Ben Affleck as an FBI agent in The Town.^[37] Hamm was pleased that the film offered him a chance to play a role unlike that of Don Draper, explaining that he had received "about forty scripts that were all set in the 60s, or had me playing advertising guys."^[38] The film received generally favorable reviews^[39] and earned $144 million worldwide.^[40] Still another 2010 project found Hamm playing a defense attorney in Howl, based on Allen Ginsberg's 1956 poem of the same name.^[41] 2011 projects included roles in Zack Snyder's action-fantasy movie Sucker Punch and the independent feature Friends with Kids, directed by real-life partner Jennifer Westfeldt, which he helped co-produce.^[42]

He has a recurring role in The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret as the servant of sociopathic billionaire Dave Mountford, the role of which is later revealed to in fact be a fictionalized version of Jon Hamm, complaining that being made into Dave's servant has made him need to be written out of the first four episodes of Mad Men.

Personal life[link]

Hamm with girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards, 2008

Hamm has been in a romantic relationship with actress and screenwriter Jennifer Westfeldt since 1997.^[3] They own homes in Los Angeles and the Upper West Side of New York.^[3][17] In an interview, Hamm stated: "We may not have a piece of paper that says we're husband and wife, but after 10 years, Jennifer is more than just a girlfriend. What we have is much deeper and we both know that. To me, people [should] get married when they're ready to have kids, which I'm not ruling out."^[43] Hamm, along with Westfeldt, has appeared in Gap advertisements.^[44] In April 2009, Hamm and Westfeldt formed their own production company, Points West Pictures.^[45][46] The couple are advocates of animal rescue and adopted a dog named Cora from the Much Love Animal Shelter in California.^[47]

Although his role as Draper requires him to smoke, Hamm gave up smoking when he was 24.^[48][49] Due to laws regulating workplace safety, he does not smoke actual cigarettes, but rather herbal cigarettes that do not contain tobacco or nicotine.^[49][50]

Hamm was named Salon.com's Sexiest Man Living in 2007,^[51] and was named one of People magazine's Sexiest Men Alive in 2008.^[52] Hamm won GQ's 'International Man' award in September 2010^[53] and was named one of Entertainment Weekly's Entertainers of the Year in 2008 and 2010.^[54]

Hamm is an avid golfer^[55] and a devoted fan of both the NHL's St. Louis Blues (going as far as appearing in two television ads for the team)^[56] and the MLB's St. Louis Cardinals.^[57] He narrated the official highlight film for the 2011 World Series in which the Cardinals won. Growing up, Hamm was a fan of the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals, who in 1988 moved to Phoenix, eventually becoming the Arizona Cardinals. Hamm states, however, that given the Cardinals' dismal performance during the 1970s, he adopted the Pittsburgh Steelers as his fallback team. Hamm cites the Steelers' success during the 1970s and his distaste for the Cowboys' prowess over the Cardinals as a reason for choosing the Steelers.^[58]

In March 2010, Hamm replaced actor Richard Thomas as the voiceover for Mercedes-Benz' S400 Hybrid ad campaign.^[59]

Filmography[link]

Hamm on the set of The Town in September 2009

Feature films[link]

Television[link]

Music Videos[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]