Rich Sommer is particularly good at playing men whose awkwardness encourages us to make allowances for their behaviour. Mad Men gives that gift time to develop; his supporting film parts can leave it looking like a familiar assignment.
Fi1m perspective
In Mad Men (2007), Rich Sommer makes Harry Crane's social awkwardness an unreliable reason to feel sorry for him. There is ambition there, and a capacity to be thoroughly unpleasant, which Sommer does not soften just to keep the character amusing. We laughed at Harry and then felt less forgiving, because his discomfort around other people does not prevent him from behaving badly towards them. It is a good supporting performance in a series whose patient storytelling gives small changes room to register.
His early foothold in films was Doug, Anne Hathaway's friend in The Devil Wears Prada (2006), followed by the regular part in Mad Men. Across seven seasons, Harry gave Sommer the chance to do more than establish a comic nuisance and leave the principal characters to get on with things. His performance benefits from the series' exact ensemble work, central to why we rate the programme so highly. Its occasional smugness about the past remains a reservation even when the acting is this carefully judged.
After Mad Men, Sommer moved between television, independent films and voice work, including playing Henry in the narrative game Firewatch (2016). His improvisation background helps explain the quick choices and ease within ensembles that suit supporting work. The recurring awkward or sleazy character can, however, become a limitation: a part may ask him to establish those qualities and offer little else to do. Harry remains the useful measure because the sustained development lets Sommer make more of a man we might initially think we have understood.
Chloe Domont's Fair Play (2023), in which he plays Paul, puts him back in a workplace where ambition brings out unpleasant behaviour. We liked its sharp first hour, but its decision to settle too firmly on a villain narrows the film, and Sommer's presence is no reason to pretend otherwise. It is worth considering if the thriller is your genre, with a reservation about how much less interesting it becomes once it stops examining both sides. For Sommer, though, start with Mad Men and allow the performance time to develop.
Biography
Rich Sommer is an American actor. He was born on 2 February 1978 in Toledo, Ohio, and raised in Minnesota. He studied theatre at Concordia College in Moorhead and earned an MFA in acting from Case Western Reserve University in 2004.
Sommer is best known for playing Harry Crane in the AMC series Mad Men (2007–2015). His film roles include Doug in The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Patrick Dougherty in King Richard (2021), and Paul in Fair Play (2023). He has also appeared in The Office (2005) as Alex and voiced characters in Regular Show (2010).
