J.K. Simmons

Jonathan Kimble Simmons (born January 9, 1955) is an American actor. In television, he is known for playing Dr. Emil Skoda on the NBC series Law & Order, Vernon Schillinger on the HBO series Oz, and Assistant Police Chief Will Pope on TNT’s The Closer. From 2017 to 2019, he starred as Howard Silk in the Starz series Counterpart. He also starred in the third season of the IFC comedy series Brockmire, and a recurring role as Billy Barber on the Apple TV+ miniseries Defending Jacob (2020), with Chris Evans, Michelle Dockery, Jaeden Martell, Cherry Jones, Pablo Schreiber, Betty Gabriel, and Sakina Jaffrey.

He made his film debut in The Ref (1994), with Denis Leary, Judy Davis, and Kevin Spacey. Other early film roles include The Scout (1994), with Albert Brooks, Brendan Fraser, and Diane Wiest; The First Wives Club (1996), with Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler, Maggie Smith, and Marcia Gay Harden; Extreme Measures (1995), with Hugh Grant, Gene Hackman, Sarah Jessica Parker, and David Morse; Love Walked In (1997), with Leary, Terence Stamp, and Aitana Sánchez-Gijón; The Jackal (1998), with Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, and Sidney Poitier; The Cider House Rules (1999), with Tobey Maguire, Charlize Theron, Delroy Lindo, Paul Rudd, Michael Caine, Jane Alexander, Kathy Baker, Kieran Culkin, Heavy D, Kate Nelligan, and Erykah Badu; Autumn in New York (2000), with Gere, Winona Ryder, and Anthony LaPaglia; and The Mexican (2001), with Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, and James Gandolfini.

His breakout film role was as J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007), with Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and James Franco. He reprised his role as Jameson in various Marvel media unrelated to the Raimi trilogy, including multiple animated series and a cameo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), with Tom Holland, Samuel L. Jackson, Zendaya, Cobie Smulders, Jon Favreau, J.B. Smoove, Jacob Batalon, Martin Starr, Marisa Tomei, and Jake Gyllenhaal. His other collaborations with Raimi include For Love of the Game (1999), with Kevin Costner, John C. Reilly, Jenna Malone, and Brian Cox; and The Gift (2000), with Cate Blanchett, Keanu Reeves, Giovanni Ribisi, Hilary Swank, Katie Holmes, and Greg Kinnear.

He’s also frequently worked with director Jason Reitman in such films as Thank You for Smoking (2005), with Eckhart, Maria Bello, David Koechner, Cameron Bright, Adam Brody, Sam Elliott, Holmes, Rob Lowe, William H. Macy, and Robert Duvall; Juno (2007), with Eliot Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, and Allison Janney; Up in the Air (2009), with George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, and Danny McBride; an uncredited voice cameo in Young Adult (2011), with Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt, and Patrick Wilson; Labor Day (2013), with Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin; Men, Women & Children (2014), with Rosemarie DeWitt, Garner, Judy Greer, Dean Norris, Adam Sandler, Ansel Elgort, and Kaitlyn Dever; The Front Runner (2018), with Hugh Jackman, Farmiga, and Alfred Molina; and Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), with Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Rudd, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts.

His performance as abusive music instructor Terence Fletcher in Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash (2014), with Miles Teller; received widespread critical acclaim and earned him many accolades, including the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, Critics’ Choice Award and BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also appeared in Chazelle’s second directorial effort, La La Land (2016), with Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Finn Wittrock. He received a second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos (2021), with Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, Nina Arianda, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Jake Lacy, and Clark Gregg.

Other notable films include Joe Johnston’s Hidalgo (2004), with Viggo Mortensen, Zuleikha Robinson, and Omar Sharif; Joel & Ethan Coen‘s The Ladykillers (2004), with Tom Hanks, Irma P. Hall, Marlon Wayans, Tzi Ma and Ryan Hurst; Harsh Times (2005), with Christian Bale and Freddy Rodriguez; First Snow (2006), with Guy Pearce; The Astronaut Farmer (2007), with Billy Bob Thornton, Virginia Madsen, Bruce Dern, and Tim Blake Nelson; Rendition (2007), with Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, Peter Sarsgaard, Alan Arkin, Gyllenhaal, and Omar Metwally; Burn After Reading (2008), with Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins, and Pitt; New in Town (2009), with Renée Zellweger, Harry Connick Jr., and Siobhan Fallon Hogan; and I Love You, Man (2009), with Rudd, Jason Segal, Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg, and Jane Curtin.

Roles in the 2010s include A Beginner’s Guide to Endings (2010), with Harvey Keitel; The Good Doctor (2011), with Orlando Bloom; The Words (2012), with Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Olivia Wilde, Jeremy Irons, Ben Barnes, Dennis Quaid, and Nora Arnezeder; Contraband (2012), with Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Caleb Landry Jones, Ribisi, Lukas Haas, and Diego Luna; Jobs (2013), with Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, and Lesley Ann Warren; Murder of a Cat (2014), with Fran Kranz, Nikki Reed, and Blythe Danner; Terminator Genisys (2015), with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Dayo Okeniyi, Matt Smith, Courtney B. Vance, and Lee Byung-hun; The Meddler (2015), with Susan Sarandon and Rose Byrne; The Accountant (2016), with Ben Affleck, Kendrick, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Jeffrey Tambor, and John Lithgow; and Patriot’s Day (2016), with Wahlberg, Kevin Bacon, John Goodman, Michelle Monaghan, and Alex Wolff.

Later roles include The Bachelors (2017), with Harold Perrineau, Julie Delpy, Josh Wiggins, and Odeya Rush; I’m Not Here (2017), with Sebastian Stan, Maika Monroe, Mandy Moore, Max Greenfield, and Iain Armitage; The Snowman (2017), with Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Val Kilmer; Justice League (2017), with Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, and Ciarán Hinds; Father Figures (2017), with Owen Wilson, Ed Helms, Katt Williams, Terry Bradshaw, Ving Rhames, Harry Shearer, June Squibb, Christopher Walken, and Glenn Close; 21 Bridges (2019), with Chadwick Boseman; and Palm Springs (2020), with Samberg, Cristin Milioti, and Peter Gallagher.

He is also known for voicing Cave Johnson in the video game Portal 2 (2011), Tenzin in The Legend of Korra (2012–2014), Stanford Pines in Gravity Falls (2015–2016), Kai in Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016), with Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, Seth Rogen, David Cross, James Hong, Jackie Chan, Randall Duk Kim, Bryan Cranston, and Kate Hudson; Mayor Lionheart in Zootopia (2016) with Ginnifer Goodwin, Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Nate Torrence, Bonnie Hunt, Don Lake, Tommy Chong, Octavia Spencer, Alan Tudyk, and Shakira; and the titular character in Klaus (2019), with Jason Schwartzman, Rashida Jones, Will Sasso, Neda Margrethe Labba, Sergio Pablos, Norm Macdonald, and Joan Cusack. He has also appeared in a series of commercials for Farmers Insurance, and also voices the Yellow M&M.

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

Popeye Doyle (1986) – directed by Peter Levin – TV movie/pilot
Pom Poko (1994)** – directed by Isao Takahata – 2005 English dub
The Ref (1994) – directed by Ted Demme
The Scout (1994) – directed by Michael Ritchie
The First Wives Club (1996) – directed by Hugh Wilson
Extreme Measures (1996) – directed by Michael Apted
Love Walked In (1997) – directed by Juan José Campanella
Crossing Fields (1997) – directed by James Rosenow
The Jackal (1997) – directed by Michael Caton-Jones
Anastasia (1997)* – directed by Don Bluth & Gary Goldman
Face Down (1997) – directed by Thom Eberhardt – TV movie
Celebrity (1998) – directed by Woody Allen
Above Freezing (1998) – directed by Frank Todaro
Hit and Runway (1999) – directed by Christopher Livingston
The Cider House Rules (1999) – directed by Lasse Hallström
For Love of the Game (1999) – directed by Sam Raimi
I Lost My M in Vegas (1999) – directed by Gayle Ayers – short
Autumn in New York (2000) – directed by Joan Chen
Beautiful Joe (2000) – directed by Stephen Metcalfe – uncredited
The Gift (2000) – directed by Sam Raimi
The Mexican (2001) – directed by Gore Verbinski
Spider-Man (2002)* – directed by Sam Raimi
Path to War (2002) – directed by John Frankenheimer – TV movie
Homeward Bound (2002) – directed by Joshua Brand – TV movie
Off the Map (2003) – directed by Campbell Scott
Hidalgo (2004) – directed by Joe Johnston
The Ladykillers (2004) – directed by Joel & Ethan Coen
Disposal (2004) – directed by Alex Turner – short
The Floor (2004) – directed by Michelle Schumacher – short
Spider-Man 2 (2004)* – directed by Sam Raimi
3: The Dale Earnhardt Story (2004) – directed by Russell Mulcahy – TV movie
Thank You for Smoking (2005) – directed by Jason Reitman
Harsh Times (2005) – directed by David Ayer
First Snow (2006) – directed by Mark Fergus
The Astronaut Farmer (2006) – directed by Michael Polish
Spider-Man 3 (2007)* – directed by Sam Raimi
Burn My Heart (2007) – directed by Yves Simoneau – TV movie
Postal (2007) – directed by Uwe Boll
Juno (2007)* – directed by Jason Reitman
Rendition (2007) – directed by Gavin Hood
Burn After Reading (2008)* – directed by by Joel & Ethan Coen
The Vicious Kind (2009) – directed by Lee Toland Krieger
New in Town (2009) – directed by Jonas Elmer
The Way of War (2009) – directed by John Carter
Red Sands (2009) – directed by Alex Turner
I Love You, Man (2009)* – directed by John Hamburg
Jewno (2009) – directed by Stephen J. Levinson – short
Aliens in the Attic (2009) – directed by John Schultz
Post Grad (2009) – directed by Vicky Jenson
Extract (2009) – directed by Mike Judge
Up in the Air (2009)* – directed by Jason Reitman
Jennifer’s Body (2009) – directed by Karyn Kusama
4192: The Crowning of the Hit King (2010) – directed by Terry Lukemire – documentary – narrator
Crazy on the Outside (2010) – directed by Tim Allen
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (2010) – directed by Brad Peyton
A Beginner’s Guide to Endings (2010) – directed by Jonathan Sobol
An Invisible Sign (2010) – directed by Marilyn Agrelo
Megamind (2010)* – directed by Tom McGrath
True Grit (2010)* – directed by Joel & Ethan Coen – uncredited voice
The Music Never Stopped (2011) – directed by Jim Kohlberg
The Good Doctor (2011) – directed by Lance Daly
Blackstone (2011) – directed by George Tunis – short
Young Adult (2011) – directed by Jason Reitman
Contraband (2012) – directed by Baltasar Kormákur
The Words (2012) – directed by Brian Klugman & Lee Sternthal
Adventure Planet (2012) – directed by Kompin Kemgunmnird – English dub – Thailand
Whiplash (2013) – directed by Damien Chazelle – short
Jobs (2013) – directed by Joshua Michael Stern
Dark Skies (2013) – directed by by Scott Stewart
The Heeler (2013) – directed by Justin Steele – short
The Magic Bracelet (2013) – directed by John Poll – short
3 Geezers! (2013) – directed by Michelle Schumacher
Labor Day (2013) – directed by Jason Reitman
Whiplash (2014) – directed by Damien Chazelle
Barefoot (2014) – directed by Andrew Fleming
Break Point (2014) – directed by Jay Karas
The Boxcar Children (2014) – directed by Daniel Chuba, Mark A.Z. Dipee, & Kyungho Jo
Murder of a Cat (2014) – directed by Gillian Greene
The Rewrite (2014) – directed by Marc Lawrence
Men, Women & Children (2014) – directed by Jason Reitman
Ava & Lala (2014) – directed by Ynfei Wang
The Jay Z Story (2015) – directed by Osmany Rodriguez & Matt Villines (credited as Matt & Oz) – short
April and the Extraordinary World (2015) – directed by Christian Desmares & Franck Ekinci – English dub
Terminator Genisys (2015) – directed by Alan Taylor
The Meddler (2015) – directed by Lorene Scafaria
Worlds Apart (2015) – directed by Christoforos Papakaliatis
Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)* – directed by Jennifer Yun Nelson & Alessandro Carloni
Zootopia (2016)* – directed by Byron Howard & Rich Moore
Punching Henry (2016) – directed by Gregori Viens
La La Land (2016) – directed by Damien Chazelle
The Late Bloomer (2016) – directed by Kevin Pollak
The Accountant (2016) – directed by Gavin O’Connor
Patriots Day (2016) – directed by Peter Berg
Rock Dog (2016) – directed by Ash Brannon
All Nighter (2017) – directed by Gavin Wiesen
The Black Ghiandola (2017) – directed by Sam Raimi, Catherine Hardwicke, & Theodore Melfi
The Bachelors (2017) – directed by Kurt Voelker
American Renegades (2017) – directed by Steve Quale
I’m Not Here (2017) – directed by Michelle Schumacher
The Snowman (2017) – directed by Thomas Alfredson
Justice League (2017) – directed by Zack Snyder
Father Figures (2017) – directed by Lawrence Sher
A Boy Called Sailboat (2018) – directed by Cameron Nugent
The Front Runner (2018) – directed Jason Reitman
Fanboy (2019) – directed by Gillian Greene – short
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)* – directed by Jon Watts – cameo
3 Days with Dad (2019) – directed by Larry Clarke
Klaus (2019) – directed by Sergio Pablos & Carlos Martinez Lopez
21 Bridges (2019) – directed by Brian Kirk
Palm Springs (2020) – directed by Max Barbakow
Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021) – directed by Zack Snyder
The Tomorrow War (2021) – directed by Chris McKay
Ride the Eagle (2021) – directed by Trent O’Donnell
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) – directed by Andy Serkis – uncredited cameo
Seal Team (2021) – directed by Greig Cameron & Kane Croudace
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)* – directed by Jason Reitman
Being the Ricardos (2021) – directed by Aaron Sorkin
National Champions (2021) – directed by Ric Roman Waugh
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)* – directed by John Watts
Marmaduke (2022) – directed by Mark Dippé, Phil Nibbelink, Youngki Lee, & Matt Whelan
Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022) – directed by Akiva Schaffer
Glorious (2022) – directed by Rebekah McKendry
One Day as a Lion (2023) – directed by John Swab
Little Brother (2023) – directed by Sheridan O’Donnell
Rally Road Racers (2023) – directed by Ross Venokur
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)* – directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers & Justin K. Thompson
The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart (2023) – directed by Christopher McCulloch (as Jackson Publick)
Red One (2024) – directed by Jake Kasdan
The Union (202-) – directed by Julian Farino
You Can’t Run Forever (202-) – directed by Michelle Schumacher
Juror No. 2 (202-) – directed by Clint Eastwood

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