Most of the stars of Mad Men didn’t have the most impressive resumes before they were hired to work at Sterling Cooper — or rather, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. As struggling actors, they took on roles that weren’t nearly as glamorous as the decadent ad men (and significant others!) whom they now play. Click through to view 10 of your favorite characters before they rose to greatness, and leave links to any early acting gigs we’ve missed in the comments.
1. Trudy Campbell (Alison Brie) Turns Someone Bald on Hannah Montana
We’re guessing that Pete will suffer this same fate if Trudy ever finds out about his baby with Peggy.
2. Bertram Cooper (Robert Morse) Pops Out of a Barrel Circa 1958
“Holy ka-boozey!” — what Mr. Cooper would yell if he ever found someone wearing shoes in his office.
3. Duck Phillips (Mark Moses) Is Just One of the Golden Girls
What makes a man give away his own dog? We’d suggest emotional issues tied to being the illegitimate son of Blanche Devereaux’s dead husband.
4. Lane Pryce (Jared Harris) Is Andy Warhol
Things that Don Draper and Andy Warhol wouldn’t have agreed on: sex.
5. Roger Sterling (John Slattery) Shows Us His Pubic Hair
One can only dream that Don and Roger go steam-rooming together every once and a while.
6. Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) Is the Only Kid In Town With a Guardian Angel
Trudy’s complete ignorance of Pete’s sexual escapades makes so much more sense now that we know he has a guardian angel.
7. Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) Returns to Witch Mountain
Peggy is a successful woman in a man’s industry. She must be a witch.
8. Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks) Gets Undressed
Now that we know that Joan is into guys who can “rap about anything,” we want to hear her rapist doctor husband attempt some Jay-Z.
9. Betty Draper (January Jones) as an Evil Sorority Girl
Did they even have sororities at Bryn Mawr College? If so, Betty would have dominated.
10. Don Draper Turns a Woman Off of Men
This doesn’t sound like Don at all. It must have been pre-war, awkward Dick Whitman.