A version of this article originally appeared in Wayne State's Sound End newspaper. Reposted with permission of the author.
Allison Koehler, senior staff writer The South End
Veteran character actor J.K. Simmons is one of those Hollywood players who seems to be in "everything."
When Simmons won the 2014 Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Whiplash, almost overnight, the Detroit native went from being a ubiquitous bit player to a household name.
In Whiplash, Simmons portrayed Terence Fletcher, an abusive music instructor, which earned him more than 30 accolades during award season in addition to the Academy honor.
During his Oscar acceptance speech, just a few months after his own mother's passing, he made an impassioned plea that became an online sensation.
"Call your mom," he said. "Call your dad. If you're lucky enough to have a parent or two alive on this planet, call them. Don't text, don't email, call them on the phone. Tell them you love them, and thank them, and listen to them for as long as they want to talk to you."
Simmons was surprised at his speech's impact and renewed connections between parents and their children that is spurred.
"Hearing stories from far and wide, people just coming up to me on the street and talking about, in some cases, some dramatic connections that people made with their folks or their kids again," said Simmons. "A friend from back in my summer stock days in Montana texted me the next day. She said that her smart alack 17-year-old called her on phone on the commercial break and said ‘Mom, I love you and I'm calling you because J.K. Simmons told me to'. The funny thing was, he was sitting on the couch right next to her."
Whiplash may be his claim to fame, but the rest of Simmons resume is also impressive.
Simmons portrayed Dr. Emil Skoda on the popular NBC series Law & Order and its spin-off Special Victims Unit, appearing in more than 50 episodes over a 10-year span. He is also known for his role as Vernon Schillinger, neo-Nazi leader on the HBO prison drama Oz, and Assistant Police Chief Will Pope on the TNT's The Closer. He also played the father in Juno, a memorable role that catapulted him to movies like Burn After Reading, Extract, and I Love You, Man.
Sprinkled in his TV career are random guest appearances and voice work in numerous animated series, including J. Jonah Jameson in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., Marvel's Avengers Assemble, and, currently, Ultimate Spider-Man.
Before lending his voice to the animated TV series, he played the Jameson in all three installments of fellow Detroiter Sam Raimi's live action Spider-Man trilogy.
Simmons enjoys bouncing between mediums: "With television, the structure is pretty much the same from episode to episode. After doing that for a while, it's always nice to go back and do a movie or two and do a different style of work. If I've been doing a cop show, I'd rather go do a funny movie. If I've been doing a sitcom, I'd rather go find something more dramatic to do."
Born Jonathan Kimball Simmons in Grosse Pointe in 1955, he's known as Kim—short for middle name Kimball—by his family and friends.
The family moved to Columbus, OH when Simmons was 10-years-old after his father, a music teacher at Parcells Middle School in Grosse Pointe Woods, joined the music faculty at Ohio State University.
Simmons attended Ohio State, where he studied to be a music composer, until his family again after his father became chairman of the University of Montana music department. The younger Simmons transferred to Montana.
While Simmons left Detroit at a young age, he has remained a lifelong Tigers fan.
Even with all the Hollywood accolades, being selected to throw the ceremonial first pitch at Opening Day that's really making him smile these days. He brought a couple of mitts and a ball in hopes someone will toss the ball around with him while he's on location in Atlanta.
"I definitely have to warm up a little bit so I don't embarrass myself out there," said Simmons. "I'm not planning on throwing any junk. I'm just going to go with the relative heat. If I can get it up there half as fast as Bruce Rondon, I'll be fine."
Simmons, who says he grew up rooting for Al Kaline and Willie Horton, called it a "dream come true" to throw out the first pitch.
"I remember sitting in the cheap seats at the old ballpark with my parents and friends, usually right center field bleachers. I just loved being there, the atmosphere, watching with my binoculars," he said. "Like most kids, pretending I knew more than I really did. To come full circle now, it's really something."
When Simmons coached his kids' baseball teams in LA, he would even choose the Tigers as their team's nickname: "After the first season, once I had a little seniority, I was able to pick the team logo I wanted. We were always the Tigers. Anytime the Tigers came to Anaheim, I'd take my son and the other little knucklehead kids, and they'd all wear their (little league) Tigers gear and we'd root for the Tigers."
My son and I got some good seats a few rows behind the Tigers dugout and we were rooting loud. Marcus Thames was with the team at the time and he hit a few out. We were screaming and yelling, and I noticed (Curtis) Granderson and a couple of other guys turned around, looking at me like, ‘I think I recognize that guy'.
"A little while later, then clubhouse guy Tyson Steele tapped me on the shoulder, gave me his card, and said to let him know if he could help me out next time," Simmons said. "We got the V.I.P. treatment after that. My son and some of the other little league Tigers, we got to go on the field before the game, shake hands, and get our pictures taken with Leyland and the players. One of my favorite perks of being semi-famous."