1990–2006: Early roles and breakthrough Moss's first screen role was in 1990, when she appeared in the NBC miniseries
Lucky/Chances. From 1992 until 1995, she appeared as Cynthia Parks in seven episodes of the TV series
Picket Fences. Beginning in 1999, Moss played the recurring role of
Zoey Bartlet in the
White House television drama
The West Wing, playing the daughter of President
Josiah Bartlet (
Martin Sheen) and First Lady
Abbey Bartlet (
Stockard Channing); she portrayed the character until the series finale in 2006. In 2002, Moss appeared in a commercial for
Excedrin in which she directly addressed the audience about the medication's benefits for people who suffer from
migraines. The spot proved enduringly popular and ran for several years, providing Moss with residual income as she struggled to make it as an actor. Moss appeared in
Heart of America and three other films in 2004. That year, she made the film
Virgin, Moss had a supporting role in the 2005–2006
horror series
Invasion,
2007–2015: Mad Men and Broadway roles in December 2007 From 2007 to 2015, she portrayed
Peggy Olson, a secretary who evolves into a
copywriter in the
AMC dramatic series
Mad Men. Between 2009 and the series' final season in 2015, Moss was nominated for five
Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She was also nominated for the
Outstanding Supporting Actress Emmy in 2010. Reflecting on her casting in the series, Moss recalled: "I auditioned [for the role]. There were scripts for two pilots that everyone was talking about at the time that were really good, and
Mad Men was one of them." Moss has stated her favorite episode is "
The Suitcase" (2010) from
season 4. Moss stated, "It was just a sort of wonderful bubble of an episode. I relished it and I'm super proud of how it came out." Luke de Smet of
Slant wrote of the episode, "'The Suitcase' made for some absolutely tremendous television. Don and Peggy's respective breakdowns all but guarantee that this will be the Emmy tape for both Hamm and Moss". While a series regular on
Mad Men, Moss made her
Broadway debut in October 2008, playing the role of Karen in the 20th Anniversary revival of
Speed-the-Plow by
David Mamet. In his review
Ben Brantley of
The New York Times acknowledged her role in
Mad Men but noted "She definitely doesn't just repeat what she does on television." He added, "Ms. Moss proves the lie in that assessment, bringing a naked clarity to her unvarnished, tinny-voiced Karen that makes the play hang together in ways it didn't before." She then briefly appeared in the romantic comedy film
Did You Hear About the Morgans? (2009), playing
Sarah Jessica Parker's assistant. in 2014|left In 2011, Moss made her
West End debut as Martha Dobie in
Lillian Hellman's play ''
The Children's Hour, opposite Keira Knightley and Rebecca Hall. The play opened at The Comedy Theatre, London on January 22, 2011. Michael Billington of The Guardian'' described her performance as "Outstanding" noting, "Moss's achievement, in fact, is to combine the everyday busyness of a working teacher with subtle hints she has a suppressed longing that transcends mere friendship." In 2012, she was cast as Galatea Dunkel in the independent drama
On the Road, based on
Jack Kerouac's
novel of the same name. In 2014, Moss starred in the independent film
Listen Up Philip (2014), her first collaboration with writer-director
Alex Ross Perry. In September 2014, it was announced that Moss would star on Broadway as Heidi Holland in
The Heidi Chronicles. The play opened on March 19, 2015, at
The Music Box Theatre. Though the play received some positive reviews,
Charles Isherwood of
The New York Times praised her writing "Ms. Moss, a superb actor who possesses an unusual ability to project innocence and smarts at the same time" adding, "Moss puts her own distinctive stamp on the part". For her performance she was nominated for a
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.
2016–present: Professional expansion and ''The Handmaid's Tale'' After production on
Mad Men had wrapped, Moss collaborated again with Alex Ross Perry, starring in
Queen of Earth (2015), a psychological thriller opposite
Katherine Waterston and
Patrick Fugit, in which she plays a mentally unstable woman who unravels at a vacation home in the company of her close friends. Scott Foundas of
Variety declared, "The movie belongs to Moss...who seems to have gotten profoundly on to Perry's wavelength. She plays out Catherine's decline with such startling, unpredictable rhythms that her every gesture seems conceived in the moment." She was cast in a supporting part in the British dystopian drama
High-Rise (2015), opposite
Tom Hiddleston and
Sienna Miller. Moss appeared in the
Chuck Wepner biopic
Chuck (2016), opposite
Liev Schreiber. In 2017, she appeared in
Mad to Be Normal, a biopic of the Scottish psychiatrist
R.D. Laing, and co-starred in the
film adaptation of
Anton Chekhov's play
The Seagull alongside
Saoirse Ronan,
Annette Bening, and
Corey Stoll. The second season of
Top of the Lake, consisting of six episodes, and which is set in Sydney, Australia, premiered at
the Cannes Film Festival in May 2017. That same year, Moss began playing June Osbourne / Offred in the
Hulu series ''
The Handmaid's Tale, for which she has received critical acclaim and a Primetime Emmy Award for Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Liz Shannon Miller of IndieWire'' wrote, "[The show] owes a tremendous amount to Moss as its star...as an actor, she has to communicate silently without revealing too much about what the character really thinks.". She added, "[Moss] fully commands each and every moment, every swallowed emotion and thought." In 2018, Moss had a lead role in a short film for the song "On the Nature of Daylight", by British composer
Max Richter, from his album
The Blue Notebooks. Moss reunited with
Alex Ross Perry for
Her Smell (2018), portraying the role of a fictional rock star whose band breaks up over her self-destructive behavior, and appeared in
The Old Man & the Gun, directed by
David Lowery. Both films received positive reviews from critics. In 2019, Moss co-starred in
Jordan Peele's
psychological horror film
Us alongside
Lupita Nyong'o. Later that year, she starred in
The Kitchen, alongside
Melissa McCarthy and
Tiffany Haddish, which follows three housewives who, after their mobster husbands are sent to prison, continue to operate their business. In 2020, Moss starred in
Shirley, opposite
Michael Stuhlbarg and directed by
Josephine Decker, portraying the role of author
Shirley Jackson, which premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival. She also had the starring role in the horror-thriller film
The Invisible Man, alongside
Oliver Jackson-Cohen and
Storm Reid, which was released on February 28, 2020, to critical acclaim. In 2021, Moss appeared in
The French Dispatch, directed by
Wes Anderson. She appeared in
Next Goal Wins, directed by
Taika Waititi, in 2023. In 2020, Moss also launched a production company Love & Squalor Pictures. She was set to star in and produce
Run Rabbit Run directed by
Daina Reid. In 2022, she starred as Kirby Mazrachi in the
Apple TV+ thriller series
Shining Girls based on the
2013 novel of the same name by
Lauren Beukes. She also served as the executive producer and directed two episodes. Moss stated that the experience was "definitely one of the most complicated things I've ever done". In his review, Daniel Fienberg of
The Hollywood Reporter declared, "No single actor in the past 25 years has a more reliable television track record than Elisabeth Moss". In 2024, she starred in the
FX on Hulu thriller limited series
The Veil starring as Imogen Salter, a veteran
MI6 agent. She also served as an executive producer. David Bianculli of
NPR wrote, "By the end of the six episodes of
The Veil, I was convinced that this is Moss' best role, and best performance, yet. She's amazing." Ben Travers of
IndieWire wrote a mixed review praising Moss as an actress and comparing her to "
Julia Louis-Dreyfus and
Carrie Coon" but described the spy thriller series as "regressive to the genre itself". ==Personal life==