Early life

Kartheiser was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Janet Marie (née Gruyé), who ran a nursery, and James Ralph Kartheiser, who sold construction equipment. The youngest of six children, he has four sisters, Andrea, Colette, Elise and Theresa, and a brother, Nathan. Kartheiser attended Apple Valley High School in Apple Valley, MN. He is of German, and to an extent Polish, Finnish, Swedish and Luxembourgian ancestry.

Career

Some of Kartheiser’s first acting experiences were on stage of Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis, including roles in Pippi Longstocking, Our Town, Dr. Seuss’ The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.

He made his screen debut with a bit role in the 1993 film Untamed Heart. Kartheiser found himself cast in mostly family fare, including The Indian in the Cupboard (1995) and a starring role in the film Alaska (1996). The film led to Kartheiser getting the lead role in Masterminds the following year.

He next portrayed Bobby, a drug-addicted, homeless street urchin in Larry Clark's Another Day in Paradise. He had two explicit sex scenes with Natasha Gregson, one of which was cut from the film in order to avoid an NC-17 rating. The film earned the young actor significant accolades, and he went on to appear in Strike! (later retitled All I Wanna Do) and Crime and Punishment in Suburbia.

Screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, Crime and Punishment in Suburbia was a moody, updated take on Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, set in a modern high school. Kartheiser co-starred on the supernatural drama series Angel in 2002, playing Connor, the son of the titular character, Angel. Appearing in a total of 28 episodes. Returning to film work, Kartheiser starred in the well-received coming-of-age drama Dandelion, which was shown at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.

Kartheiser played the role of ambitious young ad man Pete Campbell in the AMC television series Mad Men (2007-2015). Along with the rest of the show's cast, Kartheiser won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2009 and 2010.

Kartheiser filmed his role as Fielding in the BBC's two-part adaptation of Martin Amis' novel Money in the winter of 2009. The adaptation began airing on BBC Two on May 23, 2010.

Kartheiser's short film, Fruit of Labor, made its Orange County debut at the Newport Beach Film Festival in April 2013. In the summer of 2013, he returned to his theatrical roots in Minneapolis to portray Mr. Darcy in an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice at the Guthrie Theater.

Personal life

Kartheiser dated The Hairy Bird co-star, Rachael Leigh Cook, for four months in 1998. He began dating his Mad Men co-star Alexis Bledel in mid-2012. He and Bledel announced their engagement in March 2013, and were married in California in June 2014. They have one child. The couple sold their Brooklyn duplex penthouse for $1.32 million in May 2016.

In a 2010 interview with The Observer, Kartheiser revealed that he eschewed the extravagant lifestyle of a Hollywood celebrity in favor of simple living.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Untamed Heart	Orphan Boy
1994	Little Big League	James
1994	Heaven Sent	Eddie Chandler
1995	Indian in the Cupboard, TheThe Indian in the Cupboard	Gillon
1996	Alaska	Sean Barnes
1997	Masterminds	Ozzie
1998	Another Day in Paradise	Bobbie
1998	Hairy Bird, TheThe Hairy Bird	Snake - Flat Critter	AKA, All I Wanna Do
2000	Crime and Punishment in Suburbia	Vincent
2000	Bad Seed	Dillon
2000	Ricky 6	Ricky Cowen
2000	Luckytown	Colonel
2001	Unsaid, TheThe Unsaid	Thomas Caffey
2004	Dandelion	Mason Mullich
2005	Shakespeare's Sonnets	Sebastian	Short film
2006	Alpha Dog	Pick Giaimo
2006	Waning Moon	Michael	Short film
2007	Killing Zelda Sparks	Craig Blackshear
2010	Elektra Luxx	Jimmy
2011	Rango	Ezekiel / Lasso Rodent (voice)
2011	In Time	Philippe Weis
2011	Fruit of Labor	Alfred	Short film
2012	Cussing in the Workplace	Jack
2013	Beach Pillows	Nick
2014	Red Knot	Peter Harrison
2015	Winter Light	Samuel	Short film
2015	Day Out of Days	Tark

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Sweet Justice	Nicholas	Episode: "Story of My Life"
1999	ER	Jesse Keenan	Episode: "Truth & Consequences"
2002-04	Angel	Connor	28 episodes
2007-15	Mad Men	Pete Campbell	87 episodes
2010	American Experience	Thomas Nickerson (voice)	Episode: "Into the Deep: America, Whaling, & the World"
2010	Money	Fielding Goodney	2 episodes
2011	Cleveland Show, TheThe Cleveland Show	N/A	Episode: "Like a Boss"
2013	Axe Cop	Bat Warthog Man (voice)	2 episodes
2013	High School USA!	Marsh Merriwether (voice)	12 episodes
2015	Inside Amy Schumer	Juror #4	Episode: "12 Angry Men Inside Amy Schumer"
2015	Saints & Strangers	William Bradford	2 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	L.A. Noire	Walter Clemens (voice)	Video game

[ Source: Wikipedia ]