January 9: Happy Birthday J. K. Simmons

[TMC]

https://lebeauleblog.com/2018/01/09/...d-j-k-simmons/

J. K. Simmons, who turns 63 today, studied music at the University of Montana and has a little bit of a career in musical theater himself, having appeared on Broadway in Guys and Dolls and Peter Pan. On television, Simmons has had regular roles as Vernon Schillinger on Oz and Will Pope on The Closer, and played the recurring character of Dr. Emil Skoda on the Law & Order franchise. He currently stars as the lead character, Howard Silk, on Starz’s Counterpart.

Simmons is best known for his film work, where he is a very busy character actor. He has played important authority figures in adaptations of both Marvel and DC Comics—as J. Jonah Jameson in three Spider-Man films, and as Commissioner James Gordon in Justice League. He has worked regularly with the Coen Brothers, in films like The Ladykillers and Burn After Reading, and with Jason Reitman, in Thank You for Smoking, Juno and Up in the Air. And of course, he has dozens of other films on his resume, but we have to wrap up here with Simmons’s big moment in the sun—he swept the major Best Supporting Actor awards for 2014 as music instructor Terence Fletcher in Whiplash.