Jon Hamm
Acting is sort of an extension of childhood. You get to play all of these roles and have so much fun. Playing an athlete would be so cool. Or where you get to shoot guns, ride horses. I wouldn't turn down any of that.Collection: Cool
We live in a world where to admit anything negative about yourself is seen as a weakness, when it's actually a strength. It's not a weak move to say, 'I need help.' In the long run, it's way better, because you have to fix it.Collection: Strength
I got into acting because my teachers kept nudging me into it. The power a teacher has to influence someone is so great. I can't think of a profession I have more respect for.Collection: Teacher
Medical attention is medical attention, whether it's for your elbow or for your teeth or for your brain. And it's important.Collection: Medical
For a kid who's lost his mom and all the rage and grief that no one was able to talk out of me, football was a very therapeutic sport. Very.Collection: Mom
I'm not gay, and I'm not a superhero.
I'm not a cheater. I've never cheated in my life.
Losing both parents at a young age gave me a sense that you can't really control life - so you'd better live it while it's here. I stopped believing in a storybook existence a long time ago. All you can do is push in a direction and see what comes of it.
When I was a student at Mizzou, I was a daycare teacher. I did it because was a latchkey kid.
I felt very comfortable playing Don Draper, because I knew that Don Draper is a character - that Dick Whitman is playing Don Draper. I felt very comfortable in that manufactured-confidence mode. He himself is manufacturing it.
I realize how talented our hair and wardrobe people are every time I have to get dressed on my own.
Whenever people want to talk about how hard it is to be an actor, I want to go, 'Um, it's hard to be a baby-heart surgeon.'
It's definitely nerve-racking to be the center of attention. I'm not the kind of an actor that just craves attention 24-7 - but it's part of the deal. You're the leader on the set.
The last thing I wanted to do was play another womanizer or ladies' man or Lothario. I've taken myself out of the running for a lot of those parts, because it's just more of the same.
Being an actor is actually pretty easy if you can memorize lines.
I've gotten away with a lot in my life. The older you get the more you realize you're not getting away with it, it's taking its toll somewhere. So you try not to put yourself in those situations. Part of the mysterious process called growing up. Some people do that better than others.
I was raised by a single mother and I've been in a 10-year relationship with my girlfriend. My whole life I've been surrounded by women.
I have a lady, she's a great lady. I love her a lot, she loves me. We're on the same page. Whenever that day happens when we're not on the same page we'll move forward with it. We're interested in having our lives be our lives right now and not a third person's vis-a-vis marriage and whatever that means.
I've always been a fan of advertising, I've always been a fan of television, I've loved commercials, I've loved all the jingles, I loved all the stuff.
I don't necessarily want kids. A lot of our friends are having children and I don't know if it's for me. I haven't come down hardcore on either side of the argument. I think when people come from a stable family having children becomes a celebration and I'm not sure it would be that way for me.
I remember opening my dad's closet and there were, like, 40 suits, every color of the rainbow, plaid and winter and summer. He had two jewelry boxes full of watches and lighters and cuff links. And just... he was that guy. He was probably unfulfilled in his life in many ways.
I came in the Dawson's Creek era; it was all about tiny guys who looked like teenagers, and I haven't looked like a teenager ever. So I was, like, auditioning to be their dads. At 25.
I don't need to be married, but I feel married.
It couldn't be a simpler answer. Marriage doesn't really mean anything to me. I feel like in many ways marriage is more for the families of the couple than for the people involved, so I don't gravitate to it.
I'm able to leave Don Draper at work. I'm quite dissimilar from him in real life.
I like kids but I also like the option to close the door. Becoming a parent is a whole other life, and it doesn't stop.
I drove around in a Volkswagen Rabbit I shared with one of my roommates, and it didn't have a roof. It doesn't rain much in L.A., but when it did, it was utterly miserable.
What I do is not curing cancer or rocket science or lead mining - anything tremendously difficult or world changing. I understand where I am in the cosmic order of things, and I'm OK with it.
Being someone who people want to photograph, you have to open yourself up to the positive and negative. It is what it is.
I like to laugh and have a good time rather than brood and be sullen.
I'm not Yadier Molina behind the plate, but I can throw a ball to second on a rope.
I always say I make the movies where people go, 'Hey, I never saw it, but when I finally did, I really liked it.' People saw 'Baby Driver,' though. I was pleased with that.
I'm a big dog fan. They're the best. They make life better, although they're hard to deal with. But complications in life are actually what make it fun.
I could listen to Lorne Michaels tell stories for a hundred years.
When you're a kid, you're just not equipped to deal with some of the stuff that life brings you. It's why you have parents. And then, when you don't, there better be somebody who fills in that gap, or you're going to be rudderless for a while.
Everyone goes through a weirdness as a young person, especially in college, when you're trying to figure things out.
I think having a private life that you only share with your nearest and dearest is important. Otherwise, who are you?
If you're the handsome white guy, you tend to get cast as guys who are meant to be convincing in their jobs. What I've been fortunate enough to do, whether it's playing a certified idiot on '30 Rock' or a weirdo in 'Bridesmaids,' is play against that in a lot of ways.
My mother and I lived in an apartment complex in a neighborhood. So there was a gaggle of kids. Every day after school, we'd just meet up in a field, and some game would be chosen, Wiffle ball or tag, and you'd play that until the streetlights came on.
This will sound funny coming out of my mouth, but I like to play characters that have an intelligence. It doesn't matter if it's a physical intelligence or emotional intelligence.
Being No. 1 on any call sheet is difficult. Being No. 1 on an episodic, hour-long drama is really hard.
I was raised by a single mom. I spent most of my time in daycare.
I had no desire to get up onstage and tell jokes. I prefer to stand next to really funny people.
I was always good at being observationally funny - like, contributing something funny to the conversation.
I never wanted to be a Tom Cruise-type of megastar.
I've gotten away with a lot in my life. The older you get the more you realize you're not getting away with it, it's taking its toll somewhere. So you try not to put yourself in those situations. Part of the mysterious process called growing up. Some people do that better than othersCollection: Growing Up
People look back on those days through a thick veil of nostalgia, but life was hard if you were anything other than a rich, powerful white maleCollection: Powerful
Part of being an adult is treating women like women.Collection: Adults
The great thing about getting older is living life.Collection: Live Life
Whether it's Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian or whoever, stupidity is certainly celebrated.Collection: Paris