Jonathan Kimble Simmons (born January 9, 1955) is an American actor, considered one of the most eminent character actors of his generation. He has appeared in over 200 films and television roles since his debut in 1986. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award.
His film roles include J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007), tobacco industry executive B.R. in Thank You for Smoking (2006), Mac MacGuff in Juno (2007), music instructor Terence Fletcher in Whiplash (2014), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Bill in La La Land (2016), Commissioner James Gordon in the DC Extended Universe film Justice League (2017), and William Frawley in Being the Ricardos (2021), for which he received another nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He reprised his role as Jameson in various Marvel media unrelated to the Raimi trilogy, including multiple animated series, the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), the web series The Daily Bugle (2019-2023), and the Sony's Spider-Man Universe film Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021).
On television, he is known for playing Dr. Emil Skoda on the NBC series Law & Order, white supremacist prisoner 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 has also appeared in a series of commercials for Farmers Insurance and starred in the third season of the IFC comedy series Brockmire. In 2020, he had recurring roles on the miniseries Defending Jacob and The Stand. In 2022, he played the lead role in the Amazon Prime Video science fiction series Night Sky.
As a voice artist, he is known for voicing Cave Johnson in the video game Portal 2 (2011) and its spin-off Aperture Desk Job (2022), Tenzin in The Legend of Korra (2012–2014), Stanford "Ford" Pines in Gravity Falls (2015–2016), Kai in Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016), Mayor Leodore Lionheart in Zootopia (2016), the titular character in Klaus (2019), Pig Baby in Season 4 of the HBO Max animated series Infinity Train (2021), Nolan “Omni-Man” Grayson in the Amazon Prime Video animated series Invincible (2021), and Captain Putty in Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022). He has also been voicing the Yellow M&M since 1996.
Early life and education
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 music teacher at Parcells Middle School. One of three children, Simmons attended Ferry Elementary School in Grosse Pointe Woods. In 1965, when he was 10 years old, his family moved to Worthington, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. From 1970 to 1972, he attended Worthington High School, where he participated in drama, football and choir. 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 Bachelor of Arts degree in music. During college, he became a member of the music-oriented fraternity Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. Simmons appeared at the Bigfork Summer Playhouse in Bigfork, Montana in various roles from 1977 – 1982. Later, he moved to Seattle and became a member of the Seattle Repertory Theatre, where he met his best friend Michael Smith. Simmons made his way up in the acting world from there, eventually landing a role on Broadway in 1992.
