A biography for J. K. Simmonshasn’t been written yet.
“I was in New York. I had been doing theater for many years, and then I got hired to a little part - they weren't calling it an extra, but I didn't have lines. It was a 'featured' part.”
“I would like to thank the 49 actors who appear on screen in 'Whiplash' for realizing Damien Chazelle's vision so beautifully.”
“I'm just first of all looking for a part that's well written and speaks to me.”
“Whether you need to like a character, I don't think that's necessary in order to portray him.”
“I've been your yellow M&M for, oh, at least two decades or so, and I've done a lot of other animated stuff in between.”
“Music has become so ever-present in our lives. You can't walk through a shopping mall or go into a restaurant without what we used to call Muzak.”
“I never listened to the Grateful Dead as a teen; the only exposure I got was what came through the walls when my sister was listening to them.”
“Generally, if I read something that I think is really good and that I feel a connection with and is right for me, I see and hear who the guy is, as manifested by me.”
“I'm just glad to be able to work.”
“I would like to find, or I would like a part to come to me that is like the part that Dennis Franz was fortunate to be able to play on 'NYPD Blue,' a sort of similar-looking actor to me, a generic, bald white guy who you would often think of as playing the authority figure. But he was the disgruntled middle-man. That would be a fun character.”
“For me, the lean times were a wonderful, beautiful time of my life, struggling for many years in regional theater all over the country for not much money.”
“When I read the script and saw the jazz music setting, and when I read the name of the filmmaker was Damien Chazelle, I immediately got this mental image of Antoine Fuqua.”
“The retired L.A.P.D. motor cops who work set security now, all wear the same uniform, they're great guys with great stories, and they're great at their job, providing security on sets.”
“There's a kind of numbness, a sameness, a lack of motivation in 'good job' culture.”
“I don't often do a lot of that kind of research, but when it's something specific like 'Oz' - which I fortunately did not have a lot of experience with - I will. I read 'The Hot House,' about being on the inside at Leavenworth prison.”
“I play tons of authority figures, whether it's the dad or the cop or the boss. I think it's a combination of how I look, who I am.”
“Seriously, who doesn't want to slap a 27-year-old movie star?”
“I've gone back and forth with fine-tuning the kind of conditioning I'm doing. Sometimes trying to shed weight and getting leaner and sometimes trying to pack on a little more muscle.”
“I'm not a fan of any genre but am a fan of movies that are intelligent and/or funny. That goes across all genres: a horror movie, a zombie movie, alien invaders, chick flick, or raunchy comedy. If it's well done, I'm a fan.”
“If you are lucky enough to have a parent or two alive on this planet, call them. Don't text; don't e-mail. Call them on the phone.”