Before they were 'Mad': Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks and Elisabeth Moss

Zap2it, Sunday, July 25, 2010, 10:59am (PDT)

By editorial@zap2it.com

It's no stretch to say that "Mad Men" has been a career-defining show for most of its core cast. But that doesn't mean the actors didn't have careers before that.In honor of "Mad Men" beginning its fourth season on Sunday (July 25), we at Zap2it decided to dedicate our latest Z-wind to three of the stars of the series: Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks and Elisabeth Moss.Hamm had been a working actor for the better part of a decade before landing the role of Don Draper. He may have been best-known for his role in "Kissing Jessica Stein" (where he co-starred with his long-time girlfriend, Jennifer Westfeldt), but he also had a string of TV roles, including stints on "Providence" and "The Division" and guest spots on "Gilmore Girls" and "CSI: Miami."He also did seven episodes of ABC's short-lived series "What About Brian," which brings us to our first clip. Hamm played Richard Povich, a single dad who meets Deena (Amanda Detmer) at the park; she falls for him, and they begin an affair. Below is a clip from the episode "Moving Day," where Richard and Deena have their first kiss.We first saw Christina Hendricks in "Beggars and Choosers," a Showtime series about the TV business that aired from 1999-2001 -- although IMDB tells us she appeared in MTV's "Undressed" before that. Like Hamm she has a good number of pre-"Mad Men" TV credits to her name, including "Firefly," "ER," the UPN show "Kevin Hill" -- and "Thieves," which lasted half a season on ABC in 2001. Watch her catch the eye of John Stamos (something she would do again in "Jake in Progress" a few years later) below.Prior to "Mad Men," Elisabeth Moss was probably best known for playing the president's (Martin Sheen) daughter Zoey Bartlet on "The West Wing." She's been acting since she was a kid, however, with credits like "Girl, Interrupted," a 1995 ABC remake of "Escape to Witch Mountain" and "Mumford." She also had a recurring part on "Invasion," where she played Christina, a woman who in the scene below finds out she's pregnant with a whole lot of alien-human hybrid babies. "Mad Men" premieres at 10 p.m. ET Sunday on AMC.Follow Zap2it and Zap2itRick on Twitter and Zap2it on Facebook for the latest TV, movie and celebrity news.Photo credit: AMC

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