Film & TV / Theatre & dance
J. K. Simmons
born 1955 · actor
Oscar-winning character actor (Whiplash, Spider-Man) who was born in Grosse Pointe, spent his first ten years there and remains a devoted Detroit Tigers fan.
- Born
Grosse Pointe, Michigan
age 71- Birth name
- Jonathan Kimble Simmons
- Also known as
- Jonathan Kimble Simmons
- Detroit years
- 1955–1965
- Field
- Film & TV, Theatre & dance
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Simmons was born in Grosse Pointe, where his father taught music at Parcells Middle School, and he went to Ferry Elementary School in Grosse Pointe Woods. In 1965, when he was ten, the family moved to Worthington, Ohio, and later to Missoula, Montana, where he studied music and began acting in summer theater. He built his career on stages in Seattle and on Broadway before television made him a familiar face as the neo-Nazi inmate Vernon Schillinger in HBO's Oz and as Dr. Emil Skoda on Law & Order. Worldwide fame came with newspaper boss J. Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man films, and in 2015 he won the Academy Award for Whiplash. His tie to Detroit runs through baseball: he played the Tigers' manager in For Love of the Game (1999) and threw the ceremonial first pitch at Comerica Park on Opening Day 2015, a few weeks after his Oscar.
Highlights
- Academy Award, Best Supporting Actor, for Whiplash (2014)
- J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007) and later Marvel films
- Vernon Schillinger in HBO's Oz (1997–2003)
- Threw the first pitch at the Tigers' 2015 home opener at Comerica Park
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1960–1965
Ferry Elementary School
Public elementary school Simmons attended before his family left Michigan in 1965.
Related place · 2015
Comerica Park
Home of the Detroit Tigers, where Simmons threw the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day, April 6, 2015.