Jon Hamm has recalled hearing how a top entertainment executive said he would “never” make it as a television star.
The 53-year-old actor is best known for playing macho Don Draper in the advertising business period drama ‘Mad Men’ from 2007 to 2015 – for which he won a raft of awards including a Primetime Emmy and two Golden Globes – but said he heard about the brutal feedback after an audition he did before becoming a household name.
He said during The Hollywood Reporter’s ‘Drama Actor Emmy Roundtable’ when asked to detail the “strangest” comment about his work he’d ever heard: “I had a head of this television network tell my representatives, actually, that Jon Hamm will never be a television star.
“He’s no longer at the head of that network.”
Jon refused to “name names” when it came to the executive or the network, but said he didn’t get wind of the disparaging remark until “much later” in the “history of things”.
He added: “It was one of those things where I had auditioned for this person and this network over and over and over again, as one does, and for whatever reason didn’t get the part, and didn’t get the part, and didn’t get the part.
“It would always come down to the last two – me and the guy who’s going to get it.”
Jon also branded auditioning “the worst” part of his business, adding: “It just stinks, but that’s the only way we’ve got.
“And there’s so many variables that are completely out of your control, so the ability to let it go is an amazing point in one’s career.
“And then, of course, that’s when you don’t ever have to audition again.”
Along with his role in ‘Mad Men’, Jon has been a scene-stealer in TV shows such as ‘Black Mirror’, ‘The Gentleman’ and ‘Fargo’.
