Elisabeth Moss, Cipher

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Elisabeth Moss, Cipher

Elisabeth Moss is a woman of contradictions. She plays a tightly controlled secretary-turned-copywriter on "Mad Men," yet she has to have a sign reminding her to lock her apartment door.

She recently appeared in David Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow" on Broadway, in which every word must be spoken as it appears on the page, but she's currently filming a Judd Apatow movie.

Apatow's movies relay heavily on improvisational work by their actors. In this one, "Get Him to the Greek," she stars opposite Jonah Hill.

She also wants to be taken seriously and not just trade on her looks. Luckily then, perhaps, her "Mad Men" character, Peggy, doesn't get to be very dolled-up.

The show's creator, Matthew Weiner, is impressed with her work. He says it's very instinctive for her.

"She works hard, but I think she also works hard to hide it. Either that, or she’s an alien."

Moss is thrilled that television critics can't understand Peggy. “That makes the performance more interesting,” she says.

Perhaps that makes her own contradictions more understandable.

Moss worked on "Speed-the-Plow" over the filming hiatus for "Mad Men." Weiner had encouraged her to do theater with the thought that she would do a workshop.

Instead, she performed in a Tony-nominated Broadway production.

Moss has been performing since an early age. At 10, she played Baby June in a television movie of "Gypsy" starring Bette Midler.

As a youngster, she was more focused on dancing than acting. She thinks this was good for her. She wasn't the 9-year-old whose whole life focused on getting a single part.

“We all know that 9-year-old, and she’s not a pretty picture,” Moss adds.

Gina Wilhelm Actress