List of Mad Men characters

This is a list of fictional characters in the television series Mad Men, all of whom have appeared in multiple episodes.

* ^1 Credited as a special guest star.

* ^2 Maxwell Huckabee and Aaron Hart have split the role of Bobby Draper in the first season, while Hart takes over for the second season. Jared Gilmore plays Bobby throughout the third and fourth seasons.

Donald "Don" Draper (né Dick Whitman; Jon Hamm) born in 1926, is the creative director at Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency; he eventually rises to become a partner. He later becomes a founding partner at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. Draper is the series' protagonist, and more storylines focus on him than on other characters.

Margaret "Peggy" Olson (Elisabeth Moss), upon introduction, is the ostensibly naïve "new girl" at Sterling Cooper. She was originally Draper's secretary, but showed surprising talent and initiative, including a knack for understanding the consumer's mind. Don promotes her to copywriter, and she eventually accepts a copy chief position with Ted Chaough's firm, CGC, only to find herself once again working for Don following a merger. Peggy's first campaign is for Belle Jolie lipstick; she is promoted to junior copywriter on the same day that she goes into labor. Peggy either hid or was in denial about her pregnancy; she gives birth to a boy conceived with Pete Campbell, with whom she had a couple of one night stands. After her return to Sterling Cooper, she continues to have success as a copy writer and eventually loses her little girl style, cuts her hair, and begins to dress more like an adult, but with subtle nods to her Catholic school girl upbringing.

Peter "Pete" Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) is an ambitious young account executive whose father-in-law controls the advertising for Clearasil, a Sterling Cooper account. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he becomes more competitive with Don as the series progresses, and ultimately becomes the partner of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.

Elizabeth "Betty" Francis (née Hofstadt, formerly Draper; January Jones) is the ex-wife of Don Draper (who affectionately called her "Betts," or on occasion "Birdy") and mother of their three children, Sally, Bobby, and Gene. Her family home was in Elkins Park, Pa., and she graduated from Bryn Mawr College. She speaks fluent Italian. She is the archetypal dissatisfied 1960s housewife, who dutifully turned her back on her education and professional career (as a model) to become a homemaker. After obtaining a divorce from Don, she marries Henry Francis and moves to Rye in late 1965. Despite no longer being married to Don, Betty is shown to harbor feelings for him.

Joan P. Harris (née Holloway; Christina Hendricks) is first depicted as an office manager at Sterling Cooper, who acts as a professional and social mentor, as well as an occasional rival, to Peggy Olson, much as Don Draper is to Pete Campbell. Throughout the course of the series, Joan has a long-standing affair with Roger Sterling, which results in their conceiving a son. She ascribes the boy's fatherhood to her husband, a physician serving as a military officer in Vietnam, whom she later divorces. Joan eventually rises up to the level of partner at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce and the following SC&P, and chooses to create her own firm after SC&P is absorbed by McCann Erickson.