January Jones

January Jones holds Betty Draper so stiffly in Mad Men (2007) that a small change of expression has room to register. The posture can look forbidding, but it also makes the character's unhappiness hard to dismiss as a run of bad moods. We find her convincing precisely because she does not make Betty easy company. The performance asks us to notice distress in someone whose manner gives us ample reason to look away.

American Wedding (2003) gives her a narrower job as Cadence Flaherty, the woman Stifler is trying to impress. We laughed at Stifler trying to seem respectable, because Seann William Scott makes the strain of behaving himself visible. Jones gives those efforts someone to be directed at, but Adam Herz's script keeps letting the antics take over. It is a thin use of her, and a reminder that being the person another actor wants to impress does not amount to much of a part.

The decisive change came with Mad Men, whose creator and writer-director Matthew Weiner wrote scenes for Jones after she auditioned for Peggy Olson. Across seven seasons, the role gave her stillness enough time and context to become expressive. Her precise posture and small changes of expression suit a woman who struggles to understand what would make her happy. Weiner's writing gives us reasons to watch her closely, rather than requiring Jones to advertise every feeling. Treating the stiffness simply as an acting fault misses how much it tells us about Betty's discomfort.

X-Men: First Class (2011) shows how little that coolness can achieve on its own: her Emma Frost lacks the wit that would make the reserve interesting. Her subsequent television work includes Melissa Chartres in the comedy The Last Man on Earth (2015), a useful reminder not to treat Betty as her only possible occupation. We would welcome more parts that give her something to do beyond maintaining an immaculate distance. Start with Mad Men and give her time; expecting Betty to charm everyone would rather defeat the purpose.