J. K. Simmons

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

Personal 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 attended the University of Montana and was a member of the Seattle Repertory Theatre.

Musical theatre
Prior to his film & television career, Simmons was a Broadway actor and singer. He was in the revival of Guys and Dolls as Benny Southstreet. He also played the role of Jigger in a revival of Carousel with the Houston Grand Opera. He also starred in the 1987 Off-Broadway musical Birds of Paradise.

Notable 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. Currently, he plays Will Pope, Assistant Chief of the LAPD, in The Closer.

He also played J. Jonah Jameson in all three Spider-Man movies and the expanded video game adaption 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").

Simmons also provides the voice of the yellow M&M in the product's commercials, as well as the 3-D movie "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 but highly entertaining part as the "CIA Superior" in "Burn After Reading".

He has recently 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."

Simmons appears also in Postal as Candidate Wells.

Simmons is quickly becoming known for starring in movies 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.