Mad About 'Mad Men's' Women: The Show's Actresses Defy Expectations

By Matt Ufford | Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 10:37 AM

January Jones, Christina Hendricks, and Elisabeth Moss

AMC

Jon Hamm might have been the first breakout star from the male-dominated world of "Mad Men," but it's the series' women who have dominated the headlines recently. January Jones, Christina Hendricks, and Elisabeth Moss have all displayed a willingness to make decisions -- in their real-life careers or love lives (or both) -- that fly in the face of Hollywood's conventional wisdom.

(Check out photos from "Mad Men.")

Ashton Kutcher and January Jones

© Jim Smeal/Ron Galella/WireImage.com

Jones, the Grace Kelly-like beauty who plays Betty Draper on the show, appears in an eye-popping cover story in next month's GQ in which she reveals that her first boyfriend when she moved to Hollywood "was not supportive of [her] acting." She added, "He was like, 'I don't think you're going to be good at this.'" That boyfriend, identified later by the author, was Ashton Kutcher, who knows just how hard it is to be good at acting -- he starred in the "The Butterfly Effect," after all. Of course, Jones got her revenge -- earning a Golden Globe nomination for her role on "Mad Men."

Hendricks has had an equally difficult ascension to stardom. Like Jones, she arrived in Hollywood as a model with acting aspirations. After a breakout role on Joss Whedon's "Firefly," her agents pushed her to take a role in a high-paying mainstream show, she told New York Magazine. When she chose the part of brassy head secretary Joan on "Mad Men" instead, her agents fired her.

Geoffrey Arend and Christina Hendricks

© Mathew Imaging/WireImage.com

Going against the Hollywood grain seems to come naturally for Hendricks. On Sunday, she married "(500) Days of Summer" comedic actor Geoffrey Arend, provoking outrage from adoring Internet fans that the redheaded beauty had chosen a life mate who doesn't fit the handsome-leading-man archetype.

The same can be said for Elisabeth Moss, who plays plucky secretary-turned-copy writer Peggy Olsen. Moss, who has branched out into roles on Broadway ("Speed the Plow") and in film (the forthcoming "Did You Hear About the Morgans?" with Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant), is set to marry "Saturday Night Live" star Fred Armisen, another bespectacled funnyman not generally seen as the type to woo rising starlets.

Elisabeth Moss and Fred Armisen

© Todd Williamson/WireImage.com

Taken as a whole, this trio seems disinclined to heed the words of publicists and agents about what Hollywood and a celebrity-crazed public demands. These actresses, who portray bright women trapped by the social boundaries of the '60s, aren’t intimidated by the expectations of the 21st century.

Perhaps that's the secret to "Mad Men's" success.

Talk About It: Who is your favorite character from "Mad Men"?

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