Jon Hamm Worked In Porn Before He Became An Actor

You might know Jon Hamm from his performance in Mad Men, but long before he starred as the charming Don Draper in the hit series, he worked in porn.

Moving out to Los Angeles when he was 25, with just $150 in his pocket, the budding actor was hopeful of making a name for himself.

But it wasn't easy. Like many, he waited tables and worked in bars, auditioning constantly but to no avail.

However, when a friend had had enough of their job working on the set of softcore adult movies, Hamm decided to give it a go.

Speaking to Graham Bensinger about his pretty horrible experience, Hamm recalled: "I had a group of friends that lived out here that were from college, and we were all round commiserating one night, none of us had jobs, and we were eating a big bowl of pasta that we all chipped in to make or whatever.

PA

"I was about 26, been out here about a year, and I was, like, 'I need a job, man, I catering isn't working out', and she was, like, 'you can have my job, I'm sick of it, I can't deal with it anymore'.

"And I was, like, 'What's your job?' She was, like, 'Set dressing', 'I don't know that, like, isn't that a thing that you need a skill set?' and she goes, 'No, ya don't, and certainly not for this'.

"And I was, like, 'I'm not in a union, is this... ' and she goes, 'No, no, no, no, no'. And it was like a bucket of tools, and she goes, 'Here, take this, show up at 7am, it's this warehouse in downtown LA', and I was, like, 'This is the shadiest thing I've ever seen in my life' and it was and I worked there for, like, a month."

When asked why he thought it was 'depressing', the actor said: "Why do you think? You're looking at the saddest people in the world doing this, it was just a bummer.

"It was not the side of the industry that inspires."

AMC

Speaking previously of his experience in the world of adult entertainment, Hamm said it was just awful.

Looking back at his time struggling to make it in Hollywood, he said: "I was actually at that time working as a set dresser for Cinemax softcore-porn movies.

"It was soul-crushing."

These feelings echoed those shared in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres back in 2009.

He told the host: "It was soul-crushingly depressing. There was no actual f**king, but it was so sad; the actors were dead but they were trying their best.

"I was, like, 'Man, this can't f**king be it'."

Fortunately, he eventually made his big break as the advertising maverick and has never had to return to his days of soft porn.

So that's good news.

Topics: Entertainment, US News, US Entertainment, Hollywood

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

@SmithersDom