One of the most identifiable actors of our time, be it by appearance or voice, Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons is also one of the most reliable and gifted performers of the last 30 years. He recently opened up to Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast about his unique journey and progression in the film industry, and detailed how certain important personal and professional relationships shaped him as a person. As with most young artists pursuing a career in entertainment, Simmons initially struggled to secure acting jobs, waiting tables in Hell’s Kitchen to make ends meet. Fortunately, his parents were supportive (albeit a bit concerned) and encouraged his creative exploration.

In 1992, Simmons landed the role of Benny South-Street in the smash-hit Broadway revival of the musical Guys and Dolls directed by Jerry Zaks and also starring Nathan Lane and Faith Prince, an experience he remembers fondly to this day. “Those sessions of getting notes [after the show], surrounded by, you know, the funniest, most talented people in New York, was really one of the highlights of my career and life.” (Perhaps Simmons’ college degree in music came in handy.) Since then, his career has taken some wildly different turns. These days, Simmons is no longer hard up for work. Instead, he’s sifting through countless projects that come his way. What goes into his decision-making process? “Now that I have that luxury of deciding what I want to do, I don’t look at look-books, I don’t read synopses, loglines. I don’t look at genre, or any of that. I don’t even really usually look at who’s producing it…I just read the script and I just start at the beginning.”

Let’s take a look at some of the best performances by the one, the only, J.K. Simmons.

Vern Schillinger, Oz

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The brutal prison series Oz, the first hour long drama HBO ever made, put Simmons on the map and is responsible for giving him his initial reputation as a terrorizing bad guy. Created and written by Tom Fontana, this series follows the daily lives of inmates at the Oswald State Correctional Facility (Oz), an all-male maximum-security prison. Tempers flare, lives are lost, drugs are spread, and hatred festers as inmates of all walks of life are forced to cohabitate. Simmons plays Vern Schillinger, the head of the Aryan Brotherhood group of prisoners who, when not proudly spewing racist rhetoric, uses his self-proclaimed leadership role to emasculate and traumatize the other convicts with rape, beatings, and murder. Simmons' performance will haunt you long after you finish watching.

J. Jonah Jameson, Spider-Man

J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson sitting at his desk in 2002's Spider-Man
Image via Sony

In the early 2000s, right after Simmons had starred in writer-director Sam Raimi’s For the Love of the Game and The Gift, word started to spread that Raimi would be helming Spider-Man for Sony. Before it was announced that Willem Dafoe would be playing Green Goblin, Simmons told interviewer Josh Horowitz how his friends thought he would be a great Vulture (which Michael Keaton would eventually play in Spider-Man: Homecoming). Simmons, however, decided to play it cool with Raimi and not ask for a part in the film. Fortunately, Raimi had Simmons in mind for another role. “Shortly after we finished The Gift, I heard directly from Sam that he wanted me to play [J. Jonah Jameson], but obviously I had to audition and the studio had to approve.” (Which they thankfully did.) Fans of the Spider-Man franchise know triple J to be the loud, harsh, boss of the Daily Bugle newspaper where Peter Parker works as a photographer. After reading the script, Simmons “immediately” knew that Jameson was “the character that needs to, almost more than anybody else in the movie, jump off the pages of the comic books.” No one barks "Parker!" quite like Simmons.

BR, Thank You for Smoking

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Before collaborating with him on Juno, Simmons starred in Jason Reitman’s first feature-length film Thank You for Smoking in 2005. The film, which Reitman adapted and directed from a satirical novel by Christopher Buckley, follows lobbyist Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), the hated spokesman of Big Tobacco. Nick travels the country encouraging people to smoke cigarettes. Nick’s angry, booming-voiced boss BR (Simmons) demands all of his underlings to think of new ways to keep the tobacco industry alive, just as people are starting to realize that the addictive drug is responsible for killing thousands of people every day. Between serving in Vietnam and working in the vending machine industry, BR’s a hardened guy. If Simmons’ performance as a cold-hearted boss sounds a bit familiar, that’s because Reitman was inspired by Simmons’ character in Spider-Man. This movie planted the seed for what has since become a fruitful working relationship between the director and actor, with Reitman even calling Simmons his “muse,” which Simmons jokingly describes as “wonderfully disturbing.”

Mac MacGuff, Juno

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Simmons happily re-teamed with Reitman two years later on the beloved coming-of-age dramedy Juno written by breakout screenwriter Diablo Cody. At the time, the majority of Simmons’ characters were antagonistic beasts who didn’t think twice about anyone else’s feelings. This made his turn as Mac MacGuff, the loving and accepting father to the wise-cracking Juno (Elliot Page), his teenage daughter who accidentally gets pregnant, a much-needed reprieve from his prior villainous characters, which included what he called, “the worst human being on the planet” Vern Schillinger in Oz and “the blowhard” J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man. Rather than neglecting or disowning his daughter for getting pregnant at such a young age, Mac accepts the family’s reality and supports his little “Junebug” every step of the way. The film helped change Simmons’ on screen persona and showed his versatility as an actor.

Fletcher, Whiplash

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Image via Sony Pictures Classics

Finally, after roughly 30 years in the industry, Simmons secured an Oscar in 2014 for his unflinching performance in Damien Chazelle’s psychological drama Whiplash. In it, Simmons plays Fletcher, the no-nonsense, merciless, abusive music instructor of a highly-competitive music conservatory. Fletcher meets and mentors Andrew (Miles Teller), a brilliant young jazz drummer trying to reach his maximum potential. The mentorship becomes increasingly toxic as the movie progresses, with both Teller and Simmons’ performances leaving you on the edge of your seat and clutching your popcorn bucket. Adding to Fletcher’s menacing presence is his all-black attire, a character detail that wasn’t in the script. Simmons made the wardrobe suggestion to Chazelle, who embraced the idea and applied it to the character. Fletcher’s infamous line, “Were you rushing or were you dragging?” will echo in your head for days.

Zipper, The Meddler

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The lovely and predominantly unsung treasure The Meddler features Simmons’ warmest performance. Written and directed by Lorene Scafaria, the scribe behind cult hits such as Seeking a Friend for the End of the World and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, this movie centers on Marnie (Susan Sarandon), a recently widowed mother to Lori (Rose Byrne), who is struggling to adjust to her new life without her husband. Marnie inherently wants to help people in any way possible, often when people aren’t asking for it. Her constant, innocent “meddling” in her daughter’s life is met with hostility, forcing her to focus her efforts on self-improvement and seeking new opportunities.

On her adventures, she meets Zipper (Simmons), a single, soft spoken security guard with swagger, who takes a romantic interest in Marnie. Zipper, who Simmons describes as a “California cowboy,” proves to be the most stable character in the story and the only one to appreciate Marnie. The chemistry between Sarandon and Simmons is especially evident when he introduces her to his chicken coop and shares his love of Dolly Parton.

RELATED: 'Batgirl': J.K. Simmons Describes Playing Jim Gordon Again as "Flabbergasting"

Roy, Palm Springs

It’s not everyday you see a sci-fi romantic comedy. Written by Andy Siara and directed by Max Barbakow, the 2020 Sundance breakout hit Palm Springs tells the tale of Nyles (Andy Samberg), a man who’s stuck in a time loop and forced to repeat the same day over and over. That day that Nyles is doomed to repeat features a wedding where his girlfriend Misty (Meredith Hagner) is a bridesmaid for Tala (Camila Mendes). At the wedding reception, Nyles meets and befriends Sarah (Cristin Milioti), the bride’s half-sister. The two embark on a lovely, twisted journey as they try to navigate and escape the loop. Nyles, who’s been in the loop longer than Sarah, has a complicated relationship with one of the wedding guests Roy (Simmons), who, thanks to Nyles, also gets trapped inside the loop.

In watching his performance, it’s clear that Simmons “gets” Roy and all of his complexities. While Roy clearly has anger management issues similar to Simmons’ previous characters, his story arc has a surprisingly tender element that helps give the other characters hope. Simmons’ nuanced performance as the drug-loving party guest (which, by the end of the movie, ends up being practically three separate characters), unlocks a side of Simmons we haven’t really seen.

Carl, Ride the Eagle

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The beautiful and poignant film Ride the Eagle unfortunately flew under the radar in 2021. Co-written and starring Jake Johnson and directed and co-written by Trent O’Donnell, this heartfelt dramedy follows Leif (Jake Johnson) an aimless musician who’s thrown a curveball when he finds out his estranged mother Honey (Susan Sarandon) died and left him a conditional inheritance. For the first time in a long time, Leif’s life has a sense of direction once he accepts his late mother’s list of challenges and settles into her remote log cabin to (reluctantly) complete each task. Along the way, he reconnects with an old flame Audrey (D’Arcy Carden) and meets Carl (Simmons), a mysterious stranger who knew Honey.

It’s hard to talk about Simmons’ role in the movie without giving too much away about his character because part of the fun is figuring out who Carl really is as Leif does. While the movie is mostly Johnson alone on screen, the handful of scenes he shares with Simmons prove to be the most important ones for the story. Simmons portrays an extensive range of emotions in a matter of seconds from seething rage, to devastation and appreciation. And, he makes you laugh, too.

William Frawley/Fred Mertz, Being the Ricardos

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Image via Amazon Studios

The recent Aaron Sorkin written and directed Oscar contender Being the Ricardos takes a peek behind the scenes of I Love Lucy, one of the most iconic series to ever grace the small screen. While the sitcom generated a lot of laughs from audiences, things were not nearly as fun backstage as they appeared on screen. This was especially the case when the show’s lead Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) was revealed to be a registered Communist, putting the future of I Love Lucy, as well her and her husband Desi Arnaz’s (Javier Bardem) career on very shaky ground. The taboo bit of news elicited plenty of hostility and concern from many, especially Ball’s co-star William Frawley (Simmons) who played Fred Mertz, Lucy and Ricky’s landlord friend and husband of Vivian Vance’s Ethel (Nina Arianda).

Simmons perfected Frawley’s unique gait as well as his typically-miffed temperament he had in between filming the sitcom. According to Simmons, there was talk about potentially incorporating a fat suit or prosthetics to his Frawley wardrobe, though they ultimately decided against it. During filming, Sorkin encouraged the actors playing the famous quartet to view the film as a “painting more than a photograph,” and thus shied away from attempting a conventional impression. While some padding was required, Simmons relied on a comb-over and bicycle pants to capture Frawley’s distinct “pear-shaped” look.

You can currently catch J.K. Simmons in Spider-Man: No Way, Being the Ricardos, and National Champions.