Early life

Jonathan Kimble Simmons was born on January 9, 1955 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, the son of Patricia (née Kimble), an administrator, and Donald William Simmons, a middle school music teacher. In 1965, when he was 10 years old, his family moved to Worthington, Ohio. In 1973, when he was 18, they moved to Missoula, Montana, where his father became director of the School of Music at the University of Montana. The younger Simmons graduated from the University of Montana in 1978 with a music degree, where he joined Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

He moved to Seattle, becoming a member of the Seattle Repertory Theatre.

Career

Broadway

On Broadway, Simmons played Benny Southstreet in the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls. In 1994 he sang multiple roles in the Wagner opera satire, Das Barbecü. He also played the role of Jigger in a revival of Carousel with the Houston Grand Opera and starred in the 1987 Off-Broadway musical Birds of Paradise.

Film and television roles

See also: J. K. Simmons filmography

He is known for his roles as Dr. Emil Skoda, a police psychiatrist who has appeared on three of the four incarnations of Law & Order and New York Undercover, and as sadistic neo-Nazi inmate Vernon Schillinger on the prison drama Oz. He also stars as Ralph Earnhardt, the father of race-car driver Dale Earnhardt, in 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story. He plays Will Pope, Assistant Chief of the LAPD, in the series The Closer. In an interesting precursor to his joining the Law & Order cast as Skoda, Simmons appeared in Homicide: Life on the Street, portraying a criminal in a Law & Order cross-over episode. Other roles include that of an army general in the television sitcom Arrested Development, and Dan the Barber in the surreal Nickelodeon kid's show The Adventures of Pete & Pete in 1995.

He played B.R. in the film Thank You for Smoking (2005) and has been praised for his performance in Juno (2007) as "Mac" McGuff, the title character's father. In all three of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films, Simmons played J. Jonah Jameson, editor-in-chief of the tabloid Daily Bugle (as well as in the expanded video game adaptation of Spider-Man 3). In 2008, he played a CIA superior in Burn After Reading and appeared in Postal as Candidate Wells. He also appeared in I Love You, Man.

Simmons starred in several films produced or directed by his friend Jason Reitman, including Thank You for Smoking, Juno, Up in the Air and Jennifer's Body. In 2013, he had a small role as Mr. Jervis in Reitman's film Labor Day. He voices Tenzin, an Airbending master and the son of Aang and Katara, in the 2012 Nickelodeon series The Legend of Korra. He starred as blind lawyer "Mel Fisher" in Growing Up Fisher. He has also most recently voiced the scientist Stanford Pines on the Disney cartoon series Gravity Falls.

In the 2014 drama film Whiplash, Simmons played Terence Fletcher, an intensely demanding conductor at the fictional Shaffer Conservatory of Music, who bullies and cajoles his student, Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller). The wide acclaim for Simmons's performance includes an Academy Award win for Best Supporting Actor. Rolling Stone said "Beat the drums for an Oscar for Simmons." Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times said "Simmons delivers one of the most memorable performances of the year." Entertainment Weekly summed up the reaction by saying Simmons's performance "has been universally praised" and that he was "a leading contender for Best Supporting Actor." On January 11, 2015, Simmons won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor on February 22, 2015.

In January 2015, Simmons was cast in a leading role in the upcoming film Kong: Skull Island, but he left with Michael Keaton. Simmons performed a substantial number of voice-over roles alongside his live action work. Several of these have arisen from his J. Jonah Jameson character in Spider-Man films, including voices of two newspaper editors in episodes of the eighteenth season of The Simpsons. While unnamed, these characters are clearly meant to emulate Jameson (one, bearing Jameson's appearance, demands "pictures of Spider-Man," then on being reminded he works at a poetry journal, demands "poems about Spider-Man"). Likewise, Simmons voiced an editor-in-chief of a newspaper (with Jameson's appearance and mannerisms) for a 2013 episode of The Hub's Pound Puppies.

Simmons reprised his role as the voice of J. Jonah Jameson in the animated series Ultimate Spider-Man, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and Avengers Assemble. He has also expressed interest in reprising the role in Sony and Marvel Studios' upcoming reboot of the Spider-Man film series, scheduled for a 2017 release. Other voice-over work is heard in friend Reitman's film Young Adult, as the protagonist's boss via a series of voicemails. He also provides the voice of the yellow M&M in the product's commercials, as well as for the 3-D film I Lost My M in Vegas, playing at M&M's World in Las Vegas. He has also done voice-over work for Norelco razors. He also provided the voice of General Wade Eiling in Justice League Unlimited. He recorded an audiobook for Tom Clancy's Net Force: Point of Impact. He will also play James Gordon in the upcoming two-part film Justice League; the first part will be released in 2017 and the second in 2019.

In the field of television commercials, Simmons is featured as Professor Nathaniel Burke of the University of Farmers in ads for Farmers Insurance Group, since 2010.

Video games

Simmons appears as the anti-communist U.S. President Howard T. Ackerman in the video game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 and for a series of promotional advertisements parodying the 2008 presidential elections. In these advertisements, he offers himself (as Ackerman) as an alternative to other, unnamed presidential candidates and uses the slogan "Vote for me, if you want to live."

In April 2011, he appeared in Portal 2 as the voice of Aperture Science founder Cave Johnson, a performance that was lauded as the "surprise star turn" of the game. He reprised his role as Cave Johnson in the 2015 video game Lego Dimensions.

Personal life

Simmons and his wife, Michelle, have two children: Joe and Olivia.

Simmons is an avid fan of the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball. He threw the ceremonial first pitch for the Tigers on April 6, 2015 for Opening Day.

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Title of work	Result	Ref.
1995	Drama Desk Awards	Outstanding Actor in a Musical	Das Barbecü	Nominated
2006	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	The Closer	Nominated
2008	Critics' Choice Movie Awards	Best Acting Ensemble	Juno	Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	The Closer	Nominated
2009	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series		Nominated
	Denver Film Critics Society	Best Acting Ensemble	I Love You, Man	Nominated
	Denver Film Critics Society	Best Acting Ensemble	Up in the Air	Nominated
	Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association	Best Ensemble		Nominated
2010	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	The Closer	Nominated
2011	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series		Nominated
2014	AACTA Award	Best Supporting Actor	Whiplash	Won
	Academy Awards	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	African-American Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Alliance of Women Film Journalists	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Austin Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	BAFTA Awards	Best Actor in a Supporting Role		Won
	Boston Society of Film Critics	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Chicago Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Critics' Choice Movie Awards	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Denver Film Critics Society	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Detroit Film Critics Society	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Florida Film Critics Circle	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Georgia Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture		Won
	Houston Film Critics Society	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Supporting Male		Won
	International Online Film Critics' Poll	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Iowa Film Critics	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Las Vegas Film Critics Society	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	London Film Critics' Circle	Supporting Actor of the Year		Won
	Los Angeles Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	National Society of Film Critics	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	New York Film Critics Circle	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	New York Film Critics Online	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	North Texas Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Phoenix Film Critics Society	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Palm Springs International Film Festival	Spotlight Award		Won
	Santa Barbara International Film Festival	Virtuoso Award		Won
	Satellite Awards	Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture		Won
	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role		Won
	Southeastern Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Toronto Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Utah Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Vancouver Film Critics Circle	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Village Voice	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	MTV Movie Awards	Best Villain		Nominated
	Online Film Critics Society	Best Supporting Actor		Nominated
	San Diego Film Critics Society	Best Supporting Actor		Nominated
	San Francisco Film Critics Circle	Best Supporting Actor		Nominated
	Saturn Awards	Best Supporting Actor		Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]