Kiernan “Kiki” Shipka (b. 11.10.99) is an American child actress best known for playing Sally Draper on the AMC drama series Mad Men.
Kiernan has just recently completed filming in Brooklyn, New York. The film is called Very Good Girls and it stars Dakota Fanning, Elizabeth Olsen and Demi Moore. Kiernan plays Dakota’s younger sister Ellie. VGG is set for released sometime in 2013.
Kiernan began acting in commercials at age six, including a TV spot for Cambell’s soup. As a member of the Mad Men ensemble cast, she won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an ensemble cast in a drama series in 2008 and 2009. In 2012 she was awarded Best Scene Stealer by Young Hollywood.
Kiernan is currently featured in a spread for Vanity Fair Magazine (May Issue) along with a group of young stars from popular TV shows. The spread is basically a snapshot of a Child Star Slumber Party.
Kiernan has played Sally Draper the troubled daughter of Don (Jon Hamm) and Betty (January Jones) for the past five years. We have literally watched little Kiki grown up on television. The role of Sally is a very challenging one for Kiernan where she has to deal with many adult themes—struggling with the broken marriage of her parents and entering preteendom in the tumultuous 60s.
“I’m not allowed to watch the show. My mom will tape it and then show me the scenes she feels are appropriate. [...] I’m very method when I’m on set. It’s just kind of thinking the thoughts of Sally, and I pretty much just become her. It’s a character that I’ve known for a really long time, so it’s pretty easy. [...] I don’t think she’s a bad kid at all. She’s going through a rough time. Don is absent and Betty has never once catered to Sally’s emotional needs, so I feel that they’re not the best parents.”— Kiernan Shipka
