Mad Men mad woman without bangs

She's Nothing Like Peggy, or Is She?

TAPED to the wall of Elisabeth Moss’s apartment here a large, hand-lettered sign reads, “Lock the Door.” The woman who plays the tightly controlled Peggy Olson on “Mad Men” needs to be reminded of this?

“Fred put it there,” Ms. Moss said, referring to Fred Armisen, the musician and “Saturday Night Live” comic who is her fiancé. “Sometimes I’m just a little,” she said, pausing and looking thoughtfully upward, “forgetful.”

An effervescent 26-year-old trained as a ballerina, Ms. Moss has earned Emmy chatter for her work on “Mad Men” and critical raves for her recent turn in the David Mamet play “Speed-the-Plow” on Broadway. She is currently filming “Get Him to the Greek,” a big-screen comedy co-produced by Judd Apatow, in which she plays a put-together medical resident, the foil to Jonah Hill’s hedonistic music-industry gofer.

Contrary to what one might expect of a person who inhabits difficult roles so seamlessly, Ms. Moss can come across as a bit of a space case. There is the door thing. A question about “Circus of the Stars” leads to an awkward moment. It’s one of the weirder things on her résumé, but she can’t remember anything about it.

And what’s up with the ukulele on the armchair?

Try not to dwell on the bad news that Moss is contributing to yet another Judd Apatow ugly guy wins the heart of babe nerdboy fantasy and enjoy the rest of Brooks Barnes' profile in the New York Times.

Comments

[James Wolcott]

It tests my faith that we live in a world in which Jonah Hill is cast into lead roles in which we're supposed to care about the outcome.

[Ken Houghton]

It tears my faith in the world that Fred Armisen...well, anyway...

[Mister Strudel]

Scientology? Ugh.
Sorry, Zenu is a turn off.

[Chris The Cop]

That is one fine looking woman.