J.K. Simmons Biography

Jonathan Kimble "J. K." Simmons (born January 9, 1955) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles on television as Dr. Emil Skoda in NBC's Law & Order (and other shows in the Law & Order franchise), neo-Nazi Vernon Schillinger in the HBO prison drama Oz, and as Assistant Police Chief Will Pope on TNT's The Closer; on film as J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, and for voice-over work in animation and video games.

Early life

Simmons was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Patricia (née Kimble), an administrator, and Donald William Simmons, a college professor. He has a brother, David (a singer-songwriter), and a sister, Elizabeth. He was raised in Columbus, Ohio and Missoula, Montana, and attended the University of Montana. Simmons was a member of the Seattle Repertory Theatre.

Career

Musical theatre

Simmons was a Broadway actor and singer. He played Benny Southstreet in the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls, and in 1994, he sang multiple roles in the Wagner opera satire, Das Barbecu. 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

Simmons is known for his TV 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 the sadistic 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 played B.R. in the film Thank You For Smoking and has been praised for his performance in Juno as "Mac" McGuff, the title character's father. Until recently he played Will Pope, Assistant Chief of the LAPD, in The Closer.

He also played J. Jonah Jameson in all three of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films and the expanded video game adaptation of Spider-Man 3. Simmons provided his voice for two newspaper editors in two episodes of the eighteenth season of The Simpsons. The characters are never named, but are obviously meant to emulate the character of Jameson (one, bearing Jameson's appearance, even demands "pictures of Spider-Man", then on being reminded he works at a poetry journal, demands "poems about Spider-Man"). Similarly, 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 also provides the voice of the yellow M&M in the product's commercials, as well as the 3-D film I Lost My M in Vegas, playing at M&M's World in Las Vegas, NV. He has also done voiceover work for Norelco razors. He also provided the voice of General Wade Eiling in Justice League Unlimited. He recorded an audio book for Tom Clancy's Net Force Point of Impact. Like many of his Law & Order co-stars, he also appeared in an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street, portraying a criminal in an episode that crossed over with Law & Order before Simmons joined the cast as Skoda. He also played a small role as an army general in the television sitcom Arrested Development, alongside his Juno co-stars, Michael Cera and Jason Bateman. As well, he played Dan the Barber in the surreal Nickelodeon kid's show The Adventures of Pete & Pete in 1995. In 2008, he had a small part as the "CIA Superior" in Burn After Reading. Simmons appears also in Postal as Candidate Wells. He has also been featured as Professor Nathaniel Burke of the University of Farmers in television commercials for Farmers Insurance Group beginning in 2010. He also played Paul Rudd's father in I Love You, Man

Simmons is quickly becoming known for starring in films that are produced or directed by his friend Jason Reitman, including Thank You for Smoking, Juno, Up in the Air and Jennifer's Body, written by Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody. He also lent his voice to Reitman's latest film Young Adult voicing the protagonists boss through a series of voicemails.

Simmons voices the character of Tenzin, an Airbending master and the son of Aang and Katara, in the 2012 Nickelodeon series The Legend of Korra. Also, he has resumed his role as the voice of J. Jonah Jameson in the animated series Ultimate Spider-Man and in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. He said he would like to reprise the role again in the upcoming sequel to the 2012 film The Amazing Spider-Man, a reboot of the Spider-Man film series.

Video games

Simmons has appeared as the anti-communist U. S. President Howard T. Ackerman in the video game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 and 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 used 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.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Popeye Doyle	Patrolman in Park	Television film
1994	'	Siskel
	Heisei tanuki gassen pompoko	Seizaemon	Voice only (English version) a.k.a. Pom Poko
	'	Assistant Coach
	Law & Order	Jerry Luppin	Episode: "Sanctuary"
1995	New York News	Unknown	Episode: "Welcome Back Cotter"
	'	Barber Dan	Episode: "Saturday"
1996	Homicide: Life on the Street	Col. Alexander Rausch	Episode: "For God and Country" (Part II)
	Swift Justice	Mel Turman	Episode: "Stones"
	'	Federal Marshal
	Extreme Measures	Dr. Mingus
1996–1998	New York Undercover	Sergeant Treadway/Dr. Emil Skoda	2 episodes
1997	Love Walked In	Mr. Shulman
	Spin City	Kevin Travis	Episode: "Hot in the City"
	Crossing Fields	Guy
	'	FBI Agent T. I. Witherspoon
	Anastasia	Ensemble and Character Vocals
	Face Down	Herb Aames	Television film
1997"2003	Oz	Vern Schillinger	56 episodes
1997"2004	Law & Order	Dr. Emil Skoda	45 Episodes
1998	New York Undercover	Dr. Emil Skoda	Episode: "Mob Street"
	Celebrity	Souvenir Hawker
	Remember WENN	Captain Amazon	Episode: "All's Noisy on the Pittsburgh Front"
	Above Freezing	Hoyd
1999	Hit and Runway	Ray Tilman
	'	Ray Kendall
	For Love of the Game	Frank Perry
	I Lost My M in Vegas	Yellow	Voice only
	Saturday Night Live	Vern Schillinger	Episode: "Jerry Seinfeld/David Bowie"
2000	Third Watch	Frank Hagonon	Episode: "Demolition Derby"
	Beautiful Joe		Uncredited
	Autumn in New York	Dr. Tom Grandy
	'	Sheriff Pearl Johnson
2000"01	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Dr. Emil Skoda	6 episodes
2001	Disney's Recess	Various People
	'	Ted Slocum
2002	Homeward Bound	Jim Ashton	Television film
	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Dr. Emil Skoda	Episode: "Crazy"
	Spider-Man	J. Jonah Jameson
	Path to War	CIA Briefer	Television film
2003	Disposal	Older Hunter
	Off the Map	George
	John Doe	Lucas Doya	Episode: "The Rising"
	Everwood	Phil Drebbles	Episode: "Burden of Truth"
2004	ER	Gus Loomer	Episode: "Impulse Control"
	Hidalgo	Buffalo Bill Cody
	'	Garth Pancake
	The D.A.	Dep. Dist. Atty. Joe Carter	Episode: "The People vs. Sergius Kovinsky"; "The People vs. Achmed Abbas"
	Without a Trace	Mark Wilson	Episode: "Two Families"
	'	Ron Stalsukilis	Episode: "Last Rites"
	Spider-Man 2	J. Jonah Jameson
	Nip/Tuck	Ike Connors	Episode: "Kimber Henry"
	3: The Dale Earnhardt Story	Ralph Earnhardt	Television film
2004"06	Justice League	General Wade Eiling	Voice only 5 Episodes
2005	Arrested Development	General Anderson	Episode: "Switch Hitter"
	Jack & Bobby	Cyrus Miller	Episode: "Running Scared"
	Numb3rs	Dr. Clarence Weaver	Episode: "Vector"
	Thank You for Smoking	BR
	Harsh Times	Agent Richards
2005"2012	'	Assistant Chief Will Pope	88 Episodes; Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2011) Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2010) Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2009) Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2008) Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2006)
2006	'	Harry Ravitch	Episode: "Duck and Cover"
	First Snow	Vacaro
	'	Jacobson
2006"07	'	J. Jonah Jameson; Tabloid Editor	Voice only Episodes: "Moe'N'a Lisa" and "Homerazzi"
2007	Spider-Man 3	J. Jonah Jameson
	Spider-Man 3	J. Jonah Jameson	Video game Voice only
	Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee	James McLaughlin	Television film
	Queens Supreme	Ernest Fingerman	Episode: "Let's Make a Deal"
	Kim Possible	Martin Smarty	Voice only 3 Episodes
	Postal	Candidate Welles
	Juno	Mac MacGuff	Nominated - Chlotrudis Award Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Critics Choice Award Best Acting Ensemble (shared w/ cast)
	Rendition	Lee Mayer
2007"08	American Dad!	Judge; McCreary	Voice only Episodes: "The Most Adequate Christmas Ever" and "The One That Got Away"
2008	Phineas and Ferb	J.B.	Voice only Episode: "Toy to the World"
	Burn After Reading	CIA Superior
	Ben 10: Alien Force	Magister Ghilhil	Voice only Episode: "Darkstar Rising"
	Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3	President Howard T. Ackerman	Video game
2009	'	Donald Sinclaire
	New in Town	Stu Kopenhafer
	'	Sergeant Mitchell
	Red Sands	Lt. Col. Arson
	I Love You, Man	Oswald Klaven
	Aliens in the Attic	Skip	Voice only
	Post Grad	Roy Davies
	Extract	Brian
	Up in the Air	Bob	Cameo; Central Ohio Film Critics Association Best Ensemble (shared w/ cast) Nominated - Critics Choice Award Best Acting Ensemble (shared w/ cast) Nominated - Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Best Ensemble (shared w/ cast)
	Jennifer's Body	Mr. Wroblewski
	'	Poseidon	Voice only 4 Episodes
2009"10	Party Down	Leonard Stiltskin	Episode: "Taylor Stiltskin Sweet Sixteen" Episode: "Precious Lights Pre-School Auction"
2010	4192: The Crowning of the Hit King	Narrator
	Batman: The Brave and the Bold	Guardians of the Universe, Evil Star, Kyle "Ace" Morgan	Voice only Episode: "Revenge of the Reach!"
	Ben 10: Ultimate Alien	Magister Ghilhil	Voice only Episode: "Escape From Aggregor"
	Generator Rex	White Knight	Voice only
	Crazy on the Outside	Ed
	'	Mr. Jones
	'	Unknown
	Megamind	Warden	Voice only
	True Grit	Lawyer Daggett	Voice only
	Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore	Gruff K-9	Voice only
2011	'	Henry Sawyer
	Portal 2	Cave Johnson	Video game Voice only
	Raising Hope	Bruce Chance
	NTSF:SD:SUV::	Frank Forrest	Episode: "One Cabeza, Two Cabeza, Three Cabeza...DEAD!"
	Pound Puppies	Lieutenant Rock, Mr. Withers	Voice Only Episodes: "The K9 Kid" and "Working K-9 to 5"
	Young Adult	Mavis's publisher	Uncredited
2012	The Words	Rory's Father
	Geezers!	J Kimball
	Contraband	Captain
	Best Friends Forever	Don	Episode: "Put a Pin It"
	The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes	J. Jonah Jameson	Voice only Episode: "Along Came a Spider"
	The Venture Bros.	Ben	Voice Only Episode: "A Very Venture Halloween"
2012–present	'	Tenzin	Voice, animated TV Show
	Ultimate Spider-Man	J. Jonah Jameson	Voice only
	Men at Work	P.J. Jordan	Recurring Role
2013	Jobs	Arthur Rock
	Dark Skies	Edwin Pollard
	Family Tools	Tony Shea	Television series
	Avengers Assemble	J. Jonah Jameson	Voice Only Episode: "The Avengers Protocols: Pt. 2"
	Pound Puppies	Mr. Withers	Voice Only Episode: "Working K-9 to 5"
2014	Growing Up Fisher	Mel Fisher	Filming
	Untitled Marc Lawrence film		Filming