“I went from being a jock to a hippie. It was a very clear-cut decision. I had to be one or the other. I had to forsake that other aspect of myself. Or thought that I had to, which is regrettable. Quickly, I was back in the pine trees with the hippies, listening to my Jimi Hendrix and my Janis Joplin and turning on, tuning in, and dropping out.”

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.