Elisabeth Moss

Elisabeth Moss plays Peggy Olson in Mad Men. Peggy arrives at Sterling Cooper as a secretary, trying to learn the rules of an office that rarely bothers to explain them. Moss is particularly good at the pause before Peggy answers: the calculation of whether to stay quiet, say what is expected or risk saying what she actually thinks.

Before Mad Men, Moss played Zoey Bartlet in The West Wing. Her later leading roles include detective Robin Griffin in Top of the Lake, Offred in The Handmaid's Tale and intelligence operative Imogen Salter in The Veil. She has also worked as a producer and director, including on The Handmaid's Tale.

Her films include Girl, Interrupted, The Square, Us, Shirley and The Invisible Man. These are often demanding roles, with the camera staying close while a character absorbs something they cannot easily put into words. Peggy gives that skill a different setting. A disappointing meeting or a remark across a desk can register as strongly as a much more obviously dramatic confrontation.