“I read a very romantic book when I was young, when I was in college: Rilke's 'Letters to a Young Poet.' And I've always felt that if you are in any kind of an artistic, creative endeavor, and you feel there's something else you can do for a living and be happy, I think you should do something else.”

American actor, active since 1986

Jonathan Kimble Simmons is an American actor, active since 1986. He is known for a long career in film, television, and stage, and for winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Whiplash (2014). He played Terence Fletcher, the demanding jazz instructor in Whiplash, and later earned a second Academy Award nomination for portraying William Frawley in Being the Ricardos (2021). His career also includes more than 200 screen and stage credits, along with a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.