BEYOND ‘MAD’

Do not try to ‘Peg’ actress Moss; lots of roles suit her

IF YOU only knew Elisabeth Moss from her role as Peggy Olson on “Mad Men,” the critically adored 1960s drama that finally returns to AMC Sunday night, you wouldn’t put her in the same glamour league with fellow show gals Betty Draper (January Jones) or Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks).

Where Betty is a former model and Joan has those Marilyn Monroe curves that run two or three lanes wide, Peggy goes for muted colors, sensible hair and styles without flash.

She’s attractive, but she’s not dressing to catch the boys’ eyes, because what she really wants is their jobs.

With the filming for “Mad Men” now between seasons, however, Moss is no longer Peggy of Madison Avenue. She’s in New Zealand, playing Detective Robin Griffin in a Jane Campion BBC miniseries called “Top of the Lake.”

She isn’t looking much like Peggy at the moment, and not just because Robin packs heat instead of sketch pads.

In pictures for publications like London’s Telegraph, Moss looks less like a practical aspiring ad executive than a woman you might find in a contemporary action adventure holding her own opposite George Clooney.

Moss accepts the compliment modestly and says the look is no accident.

“The most important thing for me is my work as an actor,” she says, “playing characters and roles that are interesting and different. And often that involves looking different.

“So this is about showing another side of me that most people haven’t seen before.”

And yes, okay, she adds, “This is more what I look like than Peggy is.” Not that she’s dissing Peggy. “Peggy is a great role,” Moss says. “For me, and I think for most of the actors on the show, I’m sure it will be one of the top five roles we ever play.”

When “Mad Men” launched four seasons ago, Peggy was the secretary to rainmaker adman Don Draper (Jon Hamm).

Now, she says, “It’s pretty clear she’s on her way to being Don Draper. She’s not exactly like him, but she has the skills and she can rise the way he did.

“She’s become harder as she’s gone along, but she still has her feminine side. I think women today absolutely face and understand the things Peggy goes through. I’ve never tried to play this as a period drama.”

The success of “Mad Men” and Moss’ own prominence — she has scored multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations — has also put a spotlight on her life she has sometimes found uncomfortable.

She has generally declined to comment on personal matters like her 2011 divorce from actor Fred Armisen or her Scientology faith, though she did tell the Telegraph her religion is a centering influence in her life and suggested “trust” was an issue in her marriage.

In general, she says, she still tries to deflect topics like that.

“It might seem a little rude when you’re having a conversation and you say, ‘I don’t want to talk about that,’ but I’ve found you can do it and not have people walk away mad at you.” What she doesn't intend to do is hide. “I’m not Brad Pitt and I don't have cameras following me down the street, so I don’t know what that’s like,” she says. “But I think you have no right to complain when people are interested. You chose this life.”

Which at the moment seems to be pretty good. She’s in “an amazingly majestic country,” filming “the hardest thing I’ve ever done” and catching up on “Downton Abbey” in her free time.

“I’m totally obsessed with ‘Downton Abbey,’ ” she says, which raises the ultimate actress question, which is whether a half century from now she’d like to be playing Maggie Smith roles.

“Wouldn’t everybody?” she says. “That would be beyond incredible.”