J. K. Simmons Quotes

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.

- J. K. Simmons

Movies, Alien, Movie, Horror Movie

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.

- J. K. Simmons

Thought, Other, Very, Hippie

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.

- J. K. Simmons

Grateful, Listening, Through, Grateful Dead

On 'Oz' one day, I got a chunk of a camera embedded in my head, and I was passed out on the floor geysering blood while the set medic stood over me, freaking out. No help whatsoever. I ended up going to the ER and getting nine stitches in my head - real Frankenstein stitches.

- J. K. Simmons

One Day, Nine, Chunk, Frankenstein

Most of my friends - when I was five, six, seven years old - their dads were working in an auto plant in Detroit until 5:30, and then they were sat in rush hour. They weren't around as much. My dad finished at three o'clock, so he was just around more.

- J. K. Simmons

Seven, Auto, Dad, Dads

We're raising a generation of kids who are being overly praised for incredibly minor accomplishments. I think it's counter-productive.

- J. K. Simmons

Generation, Think, Raising, Overly

My overall quest is always to do something that's somehow different from whatever it is that I just got done doing. If that can include occasionally playing an older guy who has a romantic side and a romantic relationship, than that's a real treat.

- J. K. Simmons

Treat, Doing, Guy, Real Treat

My aunt was so attuned to commercials that she could always identify the voiceover actor.

- J. K. Simmons

Actor, Always, Attuned, Aunt

I just saw 'Men, Women & Children' last night, and it's a devastating movie in a lot of ways, but it's so well done, so well acted.

- J. K. Simmons

Night, Movie, Last, Last Night

I wasn't a comic book aficionado at all when I was a kid, but my cousin Weed was. Every time we went to visit him on the farm, he had two really fun things: comedy albums and comic books.

- J. K. Simmons

Book, Comic Books, Albums, Weed

Seriously, who doesn't want to slap a 27-year-old movie star?

- J. K. Simmons

Star, Movie, Movie Star, Slap

I had many, many mentors that I worked with. Music teachers, choir directors, directors in summer stock or in regional theater. You know, people I was able to work with repeatedly and learn from who were really sort of appropriate people for me to work with at a given time in my development as an actor.

- J. K. Simmons

Had, Appropriate, Regional, Choir

My general philosophy of playing bad guys, which I've sort of done, you know, half the time is, you know, very few people who we view as bad guys get out of bed and think, 'What evil, terrible thing am I going to do today?' Most people see their motivations as justified - as, you know, justifying whatever they do.

- J. K. Simmons

Bed, Very, Half, Terrible Thing

The first thing I did that was at all in the public eye, other than on stage, was 'Oz,' in which I played the head of the Aryan Brotherhood in a maximum-security prison.

- J. K. Simmons

Other, Which, Oz, Public Eye

When I got out of college, I moved to Seattle because it was the nearest big city and still didn't know if I wanted to be a composer, conductor, singer, actor. I just got day jobs and auditioned and took what came, and the theater doors were the ones opening the most.

- J. K. Simmons

College, Big, Singer, Big City

Things heal. Bad stuff happens, but you go on. Life takes care of it.

- J. K. Simmons

Bad, Things, Bad Stuff, Heal

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.

- J. K. Simmons

Play, Think, I Think, Tons

I've had a contemptuous relationship with authority throughout my life. I found myself at odds with authority, and I'm disdainful of blind authority.

- J. K. Simmons

Myself, My Life, Blind, Odds

I did Broadway shows. And I started realizing that this is actually how I'm going to make my living. So maybe I should try to do television and film and make a better living and get an occasional residual check so I can pay a mortgage someday.

- J. K. Simmons

Broadway, Maybe, Occasional, Residual

My understanding, from what I've learned so far about Commissioner Gordon, is that he's the older guy with the mustache who relates with our hero in a certain way.

- J. K. Simmons

Certain Way, About, Learned, Gordon

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.

- J. K. Simmons

Play, Guy, Part, NYPD

I read a lot of scripts, and there's a lot of good writing and a lot of OK writing and a lot of crappy writing. And even with the really good writing, it doesn't necessarily speak to me.

- J. K. Simmons

Good Writing, Read, Crappy, Scripts

I was not a giant comic book fan as a kid, but to the extent that I did read comics, Spider-Man was always my favorite guy.

- J. K. Simmons

Always, Extent, Read, Spider-Man

I was studying music in college. I was singing, I was doing operas and Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, and then I was offered a job as the music director of the Bigfork Summer Playhouse, in Bigfork, Montana.

- J. K. Simmons

College, Doing, Gilbert, Montana

I have a degree in music, yeah, from the University of Montana. I studied voice and composition and conducting and all that.

- J. K. Simmons

Music, Voice, Composition, Montana

Fortunately, for the first 20 years in my career, I didn't have any other responsibilities outside of myself. I didn't have a wife and kids, so I could afford to sort of barely scrape by, to do theater.

- J. K. Simmons

Wife, Career, Other, Scrape

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.

- J. K. Simmons

College, I Think, Very, Letters

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.

- J. K. Simmons

Parent, Lucky, Alive, E-Mail

Music to me was never something that I could listen to while reading a book. Especially when I was studying music, if I was going to listen to music, I was going to put on the headphones or crank the stereo, and by God, I was going to sit there and just listen to music. I wasn't going to talk on the phone and multitask, which I can't do anyway.

- J. K. Simmons

Book, Headphones, While, Crank

I started out as a singer and a musician, and I was taught that your job is just to get out of the way of Brahms or Arthur Miller or Shakespeare and convey the brilliance that they created.

- J. K. Simmons

Singer, Arthur, Created, Brilliance

A lot of the stuff about white-supremacist groups was very family-friendly: 'We just love our people.' One the surface, you go, 'Gee, what's wrong with loving your people?' But when you love your people to the exclusion of everything else that's remotely different, that's when you get into trouble.

- J. K. Simmons

Love, Very, Gee, Everything Else

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.

- J. K. Simmons

Yellow, Other, Been, Decades

It's OK to turn down stuff that isn't really interesting and spend the summer with my family.

- J. K. Simmons

Interesting, Turn, Spend, OK

I like to act. Every other aspect of show business I find uninteresting.

- J. K. Simmons

Business, Other, Act, Uninteresting

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.

- J. K. Simmons

Through, Mall, Lives, Shopping

I want to be like Bradley Cooper when I grow up.

- J. K. Simmons

Grow, Want, Like, Cooper

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.

- J. K. Simmons

Doing, New, Been, Extra

Screaming is hard after a while.

- J. K. Simmons

Hard, After, While, Screaming

We all want to not repeat ourselves constantly, and explore the limits of our capabilities.

- J. K. Simmons

Explore, Want, Capabilities, Limits

I'm just first of all looking for a part that's well written and speaks to me.

- J. K. Simmons

Me, Part, Speaks, First Of All

The best complement I ever got from the public or producers or directors is that I just totally blend in and become the character and they don't notice me and that the play happens or the movie happens or the TV show happens.

- J. K. Simmons

Play, Movie, TV, Notice

There's another film - a little Greek movie - that hopefully is going to get some distribution here in the U.S., called 'Worlds Apart,' where I also play a 60-year-old guy who looks a lot like J.K. Simmons, who has a romantic relationship with an appropriate woman.

- J. K. Simmons

Play, Here, Appropriate, Distribution

My full name's Jonathan Kimble, but my parents didn't want to call me either. So for a while, I went by Kim, which is a name for a girl or a Korean person.

- J. K. Simmons

Want, Which, Jonathan, Korean

By the time I started doing TV and film, I was in my forties, so I wasn't going to do the young up-and-comer.

- J. K. Simmons

Doing, TV, By The Time, TV And Film

I'd always had the concern that being in commercials would affect my credibility when I was getting started as a TV and film actor.

- J. K. Simmons

Getting Started, Always, TV, TV And Film

I actually have a degree in music and was aware that music was a tool used in therapy. I didn't realize how far it had come since I was in college in the mid-seventies.

- J. K. Simmons

College, Therapy, How Far, Tool

If you're doing a prison show, HBO is the absolute best place in the world to be doing that because you're not going to have to do all that, you know, 'Prison Break' stuff where you can't really behave and speak like people do in a maximum-security prison.

- J. K. Simmons

Best, Doing, Show, HBO

Everybody does their homework, and we all come together and just knock it out. There are adjustments to make, and if you have actors who are collaborators and who really know how to listen and be in the scene together, than it works out beautifully.

- J. K. Simmons

Knock, Everybody, Works, Beautifully

I would like to thank the 49 actors who appear on screen in 'Whiplash' for realizing Damien Chazelle's vision so beautifully.

- J. K. Simmons

Like, Screen, Realizing, Beautifully

For me, if the words are good on the page, the rest of it comes from spending some time with the script, and not like you're learning lines but absorbing what the script has to offer.

- J. K. Simmons

Rest, Some, Like, Lines

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.

- J. K. Simmons

Jazz, Image, Read, Filmmaker

I've always believed, maybe naively, that 'The play's the thing.'

- J. K. Simmons

Play, Always, Maybe, Believed

I come from a family of educators. My sister is a college teacher. My dad is a college teacher, but first a junior high teacher.

- J. K. Simmons

College, Come, Dad, Junior

People evolve and it's important to not stop evolving just because you've reached 'adulthood.'

- J. K. Simmons

Important, Evolve, Evolving, Reached

I do respond well to a director, a teacher - someone who doesn't accept mediocrity.

- J. K. Simmons

Teacher, Director, Someone, Respond

I don't respond to authority figures who abuse their authority.

- J. K. Simmons

Abuse, Authority Figures, Respond

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.

- J. K. Simmons

Cops, Motor, Providing, Retired

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.

- J. K. Simmons

Doing, Kind, Shed, Conditioning

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.

- J. K. Simmons

Experience, Hot, About, Fortunately

I like to stay home. I don't want to be away shooting in Europe for six or eight months at a stretch.

- J. K. Simmons

Away, Six, Months, Europe

I never had intention of coming to New York or L.A. and actually doing more than scraping by - you know, doing plays. And as my career sort of progressed of its own volition, I did come to New York.

- J. K. Simmons

Career, Doing, Own, Intention

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.

- J. K. Simmons

Think, I Think, Read, Manifested

If the awards buzz is happening, and it's coming from critics and people in the business and all of that, that's only more good news.

- J. K. Simmons

Business, News, Good News, Buzz

If I was doing a musical, I would never listen to the cast album, because I wanted to do my version of something.

- J. K. Simmons

Doing, Album, Musical, Version

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.

- J. K. Simmons

My Life, Country, Over, Struggling

Almost every character I've ever played - and sometimes this is very conscious and sometimes it's not - I need to find what they love.

- J. K. Simmons

Love, Very, Almost, Conscious

Whether you need to like a character, I don't think that's necessary in order to portray him.

- J. K. Simmons

Think, Need, Necessary, Portray

Being evil is easy.

- J. K. Simmons

Easy, Being, Evil

When I go back to New York all these years later, I'll walk down Seventh Avenue, and I'll hear, 'Yo, Oz!' In New York, I get recognized for that all the time.

- J. K. Simmons

New, Go, Back, Avenue

After the second and final time that I got hugely fat in my life and when I lost that weight six or seven years ago, I pretty much decided that I was going to stay in decent shape for the rest of my life.

- J. K. Simmons

My Life, Seven, Decent, Years Ago

In lean times, you get plenty of sleep, and you're not flying around everywhere.

- J. K. Simmons

Sleep, Lean, Times, Flying

I've been so blessed to have the opportunities that I've had.

- J. K. Simmons

Blessed, Been, Had, Opportunities

I completely agree with feeling the need for or the benefits of being pushed and of being directed on a project and collaborating.

- J. K. Simmons

Need, Benefits, Directed, Collaborating

I don't think I've ever watched a movie to prepare for a role.

- J. K. Simmons

Think, Prepare, Ever, Watched

If I see a now-28-year-old woman coming up to me, she's probably thinking of 'Juno' because she watched it with her parents when she was 18 years old.

- J. K. Simmons

Woman, Old, I See, Watched

I actually was a musician in college, a composer and singer, and really intended to be the second coming of Leonard Bernstein when I got out.

- J. K. Simmons

College, Singer, Composer, Musician

Sometimes I read a really good script, and I just know that it's not a good fit.

- J. K. Simmons

Sometimes, Fit, Read, Script

When we were shooting 'Oz,' my wife was doing 'Beauty and the Beast' on Broadway, singing and dancing. It was an interesting dichotomy in our house.

- J. K. Simmons

Beauty, Dancing, Doing, Oz

There's a kind of numbness, a sameness, a lack of motivation in 'good job' culture.

- J. K. Simmons

Culture, Motivation, Kind, Sameness

Maybe when my kids are grown up, I can go back to Broadway. It would be great someday, I suppose.

- J. K. Simmons

Go, Broadway, Maybe, Suppose

I'm just glad to be able to work.

- J. K. Simmons

Work, Just, Able, Glad

I am who I am. I have a low voice, and I look like somebody's dad or boss or a police chief, and those roles come my way.

- J. K. Simmons

Boss, Voice, Like, Police

It's nice to be number one on the call sheet.

- J. K. Simmons

Nice, Number, Call, Sheet

You can't play a guy who's just a snake, because what do you draw on?

- J. K. Simmons

Play, Snake, Guy, Draw

I do think you need to understand a character's motivation and perspective.

- J. K. Simmons

Character, Think, Need, Perspective

Teaching is in my blood.

- J. K. Simmons

Blood, Teaching

With these big superhero movies, everybody is so tight-lipped about everything, there's a certain amount of just going on faith.

- J. K. Simmons

Big, Everybody, Amount, Superhero

Good material is good material.

- J. K. Simmons

Good, Good Material, Material

If you're searching for quotes on a different topic, feel free to browse our Topics page or explore a diverse collection of quotes from various Authors to find inspiration.

Powerful J. K. Simmons for Daily Growth