5 of J.K Simmons Best Roles So Far

To celebrate the actor and his return as Omni-Man for ‘Invincible’s second season, we decided to take a look at J.K Simmons’ best movies and shows.

Terrence Fletcher – Whiplash

Starting the list strong is J.K Simmons’s role in the movie Whiplash directed by Damien Chazelle. J.K Simmons plays a textbook abuser as Terrence Fletcher, a jazz music instructor for the Shaffer Conservatory Studio Band who abuses and torments student Andrew Neiman (played by Miles Teller) along with the rest of the class in search of creating his own Charlie Parker. It seems all the verbal assault and chair throwing was worth it though as J.K Simmons’ acting in the movie won him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor at the 87th Academy Awards and Whiplash went on to have a massive 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 8.5 rating on IMDb.

Vernon Schillinger – Oz

If you thought watching J.K Simmons abuse students was a tough watch then beware: that doesn’t even begin to hold a candle to the insidious Vern Schillinger in HBO’s Oz. Bigoted, vicious, and sadistic Vern terrorizes nearly everyone who is forced to be locked up in the same prison as him. Spreading his hateful ideology and violence it almost feels as if he is terrorizing the viewer. When people speak of Vern Schillinger and J.K Simmons’ performance, one review by Phillip Sledge of Cinemablend.com seems to sum it up, “There are a lot of great J.K. Simmons movies and shows, but nothing, and I mean nothing, compares to Vernon Schillinger on Oz.”

J. Jonah Jameson – Spider-Man

The fast-talking, loud-mouthed, and libelous head of the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson is one of Spider-Man’s biggest haters, constantly berating the hero by referring to him as a “masked menace” in his newspaper and using Peter Parker’s photos to spin false tales of the wall-crawler. Starring in all three of Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man movies that feature an 82% average score on Rotten Tomatoes, J.K Simmons quickly steals the show as a fan favorite and would go on to make an appearance in later Spider-Man films featuring Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in the MCU.

Mac MacGuff – Juno

With Elliot Page and Michael Cera starring, Juno is a fantastic movie about the trials and tribulations of family and high school and most importantly: teen pregnancy. Though his screen time is brief as Mac MacGruff, father of Juno, J.K Simmons is pivotal to the movie and delivers one of its most heartfelt lines. J.K Simmons would even go on to say that he was so impressed with the script that he would have been happy just to play the teacher who has no spoken dialogue – anything to appear in the film.

Mayor Lionheart – Zootopia

Wrapping up the list is J.K Simmons’ character Mayor Lionheart, from the smash Disney hit Zootopia. Playing a foolhardy lion in a Disney movie is probably no cake walk but J.K Simmons makes it sound effortless with his charming voice and braggadocious vocal presence. Zootopia is J.K Simmons’ best-rated movie to date with a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes but when you’re as talented and in such high demand as J.K Simmons is, we know there is only a matter of time until he outdoes himself again whether that be on the big screen, in television, or even in a Disney film.