Hamm relocated to Los Angeles in 1995.[12] He moved into a house with four other aspiring actors and began waiting tables while attending auditions.[4] He found employment as an actor difficult despite representation by the William Morris Agency.[13] In 1998, having failed to obtain any acting jobs after three years,[1] he was dropped by William Morris. Hamm continued working as a waiter,[4] and briefly took a job as a set designer for a softcore pornography film.[14] After repeatedly failing to find acting jobs, he set his thirtieth birthday as a deadline to succeed in Hollywood,[5] observing that:

You either suck that up and find another agent, or you go home and say you gave it a shot, but that's the end of that. The last thing I wanted to be out here was one of those actors who's 45 years old, with a tenuous grasp of their own reality, and not really working much. So I gave myself five years. I said, if I can't get it going by the time I'm 30, I'm in the wrong place. And as soon as I said that, it's like I started working right away.[4] In 2000, Hamm was cast as firefighter Burt Ridley on NBC's drama series Providence.[15][16] Hamm made his feature film debut in Clint Eastwood's 2000 space adventure Space Cowboys. His role consisted of one line. More substantial roles followed in the independent comedy Kissing Jessica Stein (2001)[17] and the war film We Were Soldiers (2002).[18] Hamm played the recurring role of police inspector Nate Basso on Lifetime's television series The Division from 2002 to 2004.[15][16] Other television appearances included roles in What About Brian, CSI: Miami, Related, Numb3rs, The Unit, and The Sarah Silverman Program.[15][16] [edit] Breakthrough role Hamm's breakthrough role came in 2007 when he was chosen from more than 80 candidates[14] to portray protagonist Don Draper in AMC's drama series Mad Men, despite initial concerns by director Alan Taylor and Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner that he was too handsome for the role. In the series, set in a fictional 1960s advertising agency, he plays a suave advertising executive with a mysterious past.[19] Hamm recalled, "I read the script for Mad Men and I loved it. I never thought they'd cast me. I mean, I thought they'd go with one of the five guys who look like me, but are movie stars."[20]

Hamm in November 2008
Mad Men debuted July 19, 2007, with almost 1.4 million viewers.[21] It quickly developed a loyal audience, with both the show and Hamm receiving strong reviews. Robert Bianco of USA Today was complimentary of Hamm, noting that his interpretation of Draper was a "star-making performance".[22] The Boston Globe's Matthew Gilbert called Hamm a "brilliant lead".[23] Hamm appeared in the 2008 science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still, a remake of the 1951 film of the same name.[24] Although the film received negative reviews,[25] it was financially successful, earning $230 million worldwide at the box office.[26] Hamm hosted Saturday Night Live on October 25, 2008,[27] as well as on January 30 and October 30, 2010.[28][29] In 2009, Hamm appeared in three episodes of the NBC comedy 30 Rock as Dr. Drew Baird, a neighbor and love interest of Liz Lemon,