John Hamm rose to fame playing the cynical ad executive Don Draper on the hit series Mad Men. He is one of the most recognized actors alive today, appearing in hits like Black Mirror, Good Omens and the Hollywood blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick. But things haven’t always gone so well for the actor; Before he decided to pursue an acting career, Hamm was a teacher. It’s a profession Hamm still has a lot of respect for, but not one that’s likely to put you in the top 1 percent of earners (via Insider).
When Hamm first moved to LA to pursue his acting dreams, he arrived in a battered 1985 Toyota Corolla. The Corolla has been an incredibly popular car for decades, offering both reliability and excellent fuel economy. It’s not something you picture when you think of Hollywood’s elite, however, and paints a pretty accurate picture of Hamm’s humble beginnings.
As you might expect, he no longer has the Corolla. The “Mad Men” star collected a fair amount of parking tickets, and the city eventually took his car away. He wasn’t able to pay the fines and get them back, so he had to come up with a unique way to get to the auditions – as he explained to Conan O’Brien, “I don’t know if you know that, but the city of Los Angeles has a wonderful public transportation system. I rode the bus, and as I got closer to my destination, I skated.”
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