Elisabeth Moss

Born in Los Angeles, CA, Elisabeth Moss gravitated toward acting from an early age. Inspired to pursue an acting career at by her screen idol, Bette Davis, Moss made her acting debut at age six with a small role in "Lucky/Chances" (CBS, 1990), a miniseries based on the novel by Jackie Collins. Starting out as a voice actor in animation, Moss gradually moved to performing in front of the cameras. A small role in the Hulk Hogan family comedy "Suburban Commando" (1991) led the 13-year-old Moss to a recurring stint on David E. Kelley's quirky suburban drama "Picket Fences" (CBS, 1992-96). Moss' true big break, however, arrived three years later when she was cast as First Daughter Zoey Bartlet in the Emmy Award-winning "The West Wing." As the youngest daughter of U.S. President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen), Zoey provided the somber political drama with a much-needed shot of adolescent angst. A hopeless romantic by nature, Zoey's heart often led her into problematic situations, as it did during the first season when she fell for Charlie Young, one of her father's chief advisors. In fact, Zoey and Charlie's clandestine relationship would continue off-and-on for the life of the series. On the big screen, Moss turned in a smart performance as Polly Clark, one of the inmates at an all-female mental institution in "Girl, Interrupted" (1999). After years of being a reliable supporting player in films, Moss got her chance to shine in her first leading role in the indie feature "Virgin" (2003). The story of a young woman who believes she has been subject to an immaculate conception, "Virgin" stirred some mild controversy from within the Roman Catholic Church, but the brouhaha soon faded. Moss returned to television as a regular on the short-lived aliens-among-us drama "Invasion" (ABC, 2005-06). After that show's premature demise, Moss returned to series work with a regular role on "Mad Men" (AMC, 2007-15), a drama set in a 1960s-era Madison Avenue advertising agency that depicted the time period's chauvinistic social mores and period detail in exquisite fashion. She played Peggy Olson, a young but not-so-naïve secretary who works the desk for the agency's darkly complicated creative director (Jon Hamm) and eventually moves up to copywriter despite confronting roadblocks in the form of routine sexism from her male coworkers. The show was a huge critical success, earning numerous accolades and awards, while Moss received an Emmy Award nod in 2009 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, as well as sharing in consecutive Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Ensemble. On the big screen, Moss played Sarah Jessica Parker's assistant in the flop "Did You Hear About the Morgans?" (2009), but drew more attention playing Jonah Hill's sexually adventurous doctor girlfriend in "Get Him to the Greek" (2010). After co-starring in Lawrence Kasdan's "Darling Companion" (2012) and the Jack Kerouac adaptation "On the Road" (2012), Moss landed the lead role in Jane Campion's New Zealand-set murder mystery "Top of the Lake" (Sundance 2017). Moss landed her first starring roles on the big screen in indie comedy-drama "Listen Up Philip" (2014) and science fiction thriller "The One I Love" (2014). After "Mad Men" ended in 2015, Moss starred in psychological thriller "Queen of Earth" (2015) and drama "The Free World" (2016) and appeared in ensemble dramas "Meadowland" (2015), "Truth" (2015) and "High-Rise" (2015). Co-starring roles opposite David Tennant in British drama "Mad to Be Normal" (2017) and Liev Schreiber in boxing drama "Chuck" (2016) followed before Moss returned to television as Offred, the star of feminist dystopian drama "The Handmaid's Tale" (Hulu 2017-), based on the novel by Margaret Atwood. The critically-acclaimed series won the Outstanding Drama Series Emmy Award in 2017, while Moss won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. That same year, Moss returned to an earlier role as Detective Robin Griffin in "Top of the Lake: China Girl" (Sundance 2017).