Jon Hamm Recalls Getting Mixed Up with John Hannah During a Pre-“Mad Men” Audition: We Look 'Nothing Remotely Alike'

Erin Clack, Aliza SesslerSun, April 5, 2026 at 6:00 PM UTC

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Jon Hamm; John HannahCredit: Dominik Bindl/Getty; Dave Benett/Getty for Ascendant Fox -

Jon Hamm recalled getting mistaken for Scottish actor John Hannah during an audition prior to his Mad Men fame

Hamm was trying out for a role in "something very British" and had practiced a British accent in preparation — but then the casting team informed him that they thought he was Hannah

"I walked out with my tail between my legs," Hamm said of the mix-up

Jon Hamm is recalling an awkward audition moment he experienced prior to his Mad Men fame.

While promoting the second season of his hit dark comedy at Apple TV’s Your Friends & Neighbors conversation at 92nd Street Y in New York City on March 29, the star spoke with Happy Sad Confused podcast host Josh Horowitz about his career. Horowitz asked Hamm, 55, to share the name of the last actor he had been mistaken for.

"This is a good story," he replied, before revealing his answer: "John Hannah. I don't know if you guys know who John Hannah is."

Hamm went on to describe Hannah, 63, as a "wonderful actor. Scotsman. Balding. Older than me. Really looks nothing remotely like [me]."

In fact, he continued, the only thing the two "maybe" have in common is their first names — but only phonetically at that.

"He's a J-O-H-N. I'm not," Hamm explained, pointing out that their last names also sound similar.

Josh Horowitz (left) and Jon Hamm in conversation at 92NY in New York City on March 29, 2026Credit: Gregory Pace/Shutterstock

The Morning Show star then recounted how he went on an audition "for something very British" — noting that it was before his breakout role in Mad Men, but after "he had worked on things" and had become "a known quantity."

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Hamm said he performed the audition "in a very, in my mind, fantastic British accent," and the casting person told him he was "great" and that she had "no idea" he was from the United Kingdom. "I said, 'That's because I am not. But it's nice that you think that I am because my English accent is so good,' " Hamm recalled.

The woman then informed Hamm that he had to be "a member of the U.K. to be in this thing," prompting him to respond, "Well, I am not. Where does this leave us?"

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John Slattery (left) and Jon Hamm in 'Mad Men' on AMCCredit: Carin Baer/AMC

Hamm said the woman called the casting assistant into the room and announced, "Jon's not a citizen of the U.K."

"And there was a lot of hushed whispering," Hamm recalled, "and the lady said, 'I'm terribly sorry. We thought you were John Hannah.' And I said, 'Oh, no.' "

Hamm was then asked if he wanted to do "the second scene," but he declined. "And I walked out with my tail between my legs. That's the last person I was mistaken for," he told Horowitz.

Hannah, who was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, is known for his roles in Four Weddings and a Funeral, Sliding Doors and the Mummy trilogy.

Jon Hamm in 'Top Gun: Maverick' (2022)Credit: Paramount Pictures

Elsewhere during the conversation at 92Y, Horowitz asked Hamm to share the most memorable scene he's ever shot in his career. Hamm said that while there were quite a few standout scenes from Mad Men, he was particularly "blown away" by a moment on the set of the 2022 film Top Gun: Maverick.

"I remember walking onto the set, and there's a four-story American flag to my left, and Tom Cruise walking toward me, in Maverick gear, with a giant smile," Hamm recalled. "And there's three F-18s in the deep background, and hundreds of naval aviators in the foreground, and [Tom's] clapping, and he's got his hands out ready for a hug, and he's like, 'I'm so glad you're here.' And it took everything in me to not look behind me."

As he shot a scene with Cruise, 63, Hamm remembered having "kind of an out-of-body moment."

"Top Gun, to me, as a 14-year-old [growing up] in St. Louis, Mo., was more than a movie. It was a religion, I guess. I mean, I saw it with my friends a hundred times," he explained. "And so, to be a part of that, and be inside of that, and looking around at it, and then, for the movie to be so tremendous also … I'm still kind of blown away that I was in that movie."

Your Friends & Neighbors season 2 premieres on Apple TV+ on Friday, April 3.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”