‘Mad Men’ Star Jon Hamm Taught Acting to This Future Star of ‘The Office’ at His Missouri High School
Mad Men star Jon Hamm’s road to Hollywood started in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. He was attending John Burroughs School — a private high school in the upscale suburb of Ladue — when he first dabbled in acting. And his flirtation with the profession continued in college.
After earning his degree, Hamm relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a full-time acting career. However, the future Emmy winner took a brief detour back home before moving to Southern California. For one year, Hamm taught an acting class at his alma mater in St. Louis. And one of his students was a future star of The Office.
‘Mad Men’ star Jon Hamm didn’t start thinking about an acting career until college
Hamm’s very first acting role was as Winnie the Pooh in the first grade, but he didn’t get back on stage until high school when he was cast as Judas in Godspell. Even though he enjoyed acting, Hamm didn’t take it seriously and he definitely didn’t think it would be his career.
But when he was at the University of Missouri getting his BA in English, he answered an ad from a local theater company that was seeking players for a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Hamm was cast in the production, which led to other roles. And by the time he graduated, he had dreams of going to Hollywood.
Before he took the risk and made the big move, Hamm went home to St. Louis for a year and worked as a drama teacher at his former high school.
Jon Hamm taught acting to ‘The Office’ star Ellie Kemper
Hamm returned to John Burroughs School in 1993 and taught improv to high school students in a theater class. One of those students was Ellie Kemper, future star of The Office and the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
“He was not ugly. He was a wonderful teacher,” Kemper said at a Television Critics Association panel, per People Magazine. “I was in ninth grade and he taught me the improv section of my theater class, and everyone loved him.”
Kemper also said that the Hollywood leading man was a “hunk” of a teacher.
“In a room full of freshmen girls — he was definitely just as handsome back then, and having this grown, tall man teach you theater, it was like having a hunk in the class,” Kemper tells The A.V. Club.
For his part, Hamm remembers teaching Kemper and says she was one of his “best” students.
“She and her sister [Carrie Kemper] were incredibly diligent students and very, very talented. The proof is in the pudding. They’re both working in the industry,” Hamm told The Today Show.
The ‘Mad Men’ star worked with Ellie Kemper on ‘The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’
Twenty years after their teacher/student experience, Hamm and Kemper reunited when he was cast on her Netflix series The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt as Rev. Richard Wayne Gary Wayne. However, when she first heard the news, Kemper admitted she was a “little scared.”
“When they told us that he would be playing the reverend, it was fantastic. But I was a little scared,” Kemper said. “I think there’s still a teacher-student dynamic, and acting with him was a little bit nerve-racking just because I felt like he was still grading me on some level. But he’s a wonderful man and it was a lot of fun.”
The Office is now playing on HBO Max. Mad Men is available on Amazon Prime Video, and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is on Netflix.
