The Character Everyone Forgets Jon Hamm Played In CSI: Miami
Jon Hamm has had nothing short of an illustrious career. The esteemed actor has starred in some pretty major TV properties, often playing characters with a suave demeanor and smooth talking skills that mask a ruthless nature. Such was the case for perhaps Hamm's biggest role, the cunning ad salesman Don Draper in "Mad Men," as well as other parts such as his stint as the conniving cult leader Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne in "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt."
What fans of Hamm and his characters may not be aware of, though, is that the actor actually held a brief role in the popular "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" franchise, which has attracted scores of viewers over the past few decades with its compelling focus on teams of crime scene investigators working to determine the truth behind mysterious murder scenes. Specifically, Hamm appeared for two episodes of the 2002 spin-off series "CSI: Miami" in a role with a surprisingly tragic arc.
Hamm played a doctor at the end of his rope on CSI: Miami
Hamm made two appearances on "CSI: Miami" during the show's fourth season. The first was in Episode 5, titled "Three-Way," during which the actor had an uncredited cameo as the character Dr. Brent Kessler. The real meat of his role came from his second appearance, however, as Kessler himself would take center stage just six episodes later in "Payback."
In the episode, the CSI team runs an autopsy on a deceased young girl and finds a sponge in the wound, indicating malpractice during her surgery. After determining that Kessler was the operating doctor, the team questions him. A visibly out-of-sorts Kessler tries to pin the blame elsewhere, but the team samples the doctor's beverage and determines that he was taking vitamin supplements to mask ecstasy use during the operation. Kessler then reveals that he was taking the drugs to repress early symptoms of Parkinson's disease, explaining that he wasn't ready to stop helping people as a doctor. But when Alexx shows him the picture of the deceased girl, he realizes that the time has come.
It's certainly not a very light part for Hamm, but he gives a convincing performance as someone who did the wrong thing for the right reason. Though the actor's catalog of roles has grown exponentially since then, his part as Kessler on "CSI: Miami" remains as one of his most tragic roles and stands as one of the franchise's most depressing cases to date.