J.K. Simmons

J.K. Simmons voiced Wade Eiling in the DC Animated Universe and portrayed James Gordon in Justice League and was set to reprise his role in the upcoming Batgirl before it was cancelled.

J.K. Simmons also portrayed an alternate version of James Gordon in Zack Snyder's Justice League.

Significant roles[]

Siskel in The Ref (1994)
Agent T. I. Whiterspoon in The Jackal (1997)
Frank Perry in For Love of the Game (1999)
Dr. Emil Skoda in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2000-2001)
Dr. Emil Skoda in Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2002)
Dr. Emil Skoda in Law & Order (1994-2010)
Vern Schillinger in Oz (1997-2003)
J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man (2002)
J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Buffalo Bill Cody in Hidalgo (2004)
BR in Thank You for Smoking (2005)
Gen. Wade Eiling (voice) in Justice League (2004-2006)
J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Mac MacGuff in Juno (2007)
Lee Mayer in Rendition (2007)
CIA Superior in Burn After Reading (2008)
Stu Kopenhafer in New in Town (2009)
Mr. Wroblewski in Jennifer's Body (2009)
Will Pope in The Closer (2005-2010)
Tenzin (voice) in The Legend of Korra (2012-present)
Detective O'Brien in Terminator Genisys (2015)
Kai in Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)

Quotes[]

"Well, to read the comics, yes, absolutely. I’m still a couple of months out from doing that and I have two other films before then, so I haven’t gotten started on that. Obviously, a lot of really wonderful actors have played that character previously, and most of them I saw at the time the movies came out, never imagining that I would be doing the same thing. So, I can’t say that I don’t have some impression of that character in my head that’s based on what I saw, but I’m not planning on going back and watching any of the other films. I’m just planning on learning as much as I can about him through the comics and getting my feet wet in the first movie, and then hopefully continuing on from there. I take this from my days doing theater. If I was doing a musical, I would never listen to the cast album because I wanted to do my version of something. I’m sure there will be differences and similarities with what Gary Oldman or Pat Hingle have done before, but I’m just going to try to do my take on it and be as informed as I can about the rich history of the Batman universe, going into it."
"There are easy comparisons to make. I wasn’t a big comic book reading kid, so I did a fair amount of reading when I was playing Jameson, who was very much the comic relief in those movies. Even in the comics, he was a blowhard who was all bark and very rarely bite. 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. Other than that, it’s a vastly different character and much more of a stronger, impactful character in the DC universe."
"I don't get started on that until June, and my part in the first one is very small. I'm excited to be playing that iconic character in that iconic series. "I'm going into a thing that hopefully will be 2, 3, 4, maybe more movies for me, and my part in the first one is really very small. But obviously, we know who the guy is. We know his whole backstory, based on the comic book. So, I'm just gonna finish doing my research on that. And probably not watch the other actors who have played the part, because that is kind of intimidating, honestly, and I don't think I would find that to be productive. So, I'll do my take."
"This is all coincidental. 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. I was not in good shape at all. I was overweight and soft and here I am playing the head of the Aryan Brotherhood in this maximum-security prison in the first-ever HBO original drama and I was watching the first season when it came out and I just thought, 'Wow, I don't believe this guy at all. I have to get my ass to the gym and be a believable hard-ass.' I'm not going to mess with something that iconic."
"It's been a fun experience, and knock wood, if it continues, then I’ll hopefully get to play Commissioner Gordon in a handful of movies."
"People of my generation remember Commissioner Gordon as this jolly, ineffectual Santa Claus type, and I think over the years in the comics there’s definitely much more of a badass side to him. One of the things that’s interesting to me is investigating hopefully a little bit more of that badass…You’re living in a universe where it’s pretty tough to be a badass compared to somebody like Batman, but in the universe of non-superheroes I like the idea of Commissioner Gordon as a guy that can take care of himself, a guy that’s a real partner to Batman, not just a guy that turns on the bat signal and goes, ‘Help! Help, Batman!’"
"If you look at the history of the character, In the comics, he's a pretty tough guy. He's not just this sort of comic relief, he's not just anything, he's a part of that universe. And in the first film that we're currently shooting, my part is not as big as, knock wood, it will be in some of the future films, the Batman film, you never know for sure what's going to be made, what's not going to be made, but the plan is, Plan A, if that indeed comes to fruition, is that there will be more Commissioner Gordon in the future. And I have absolutely no idea, zero idea, but I'm lobbying right now: let Commissioner Gordon be a badass."
"Yeah, mostly with Ben. In this first installment of the Justice League, Commissioner Gordon is not a particularly sizable part. We just kind of introduce him and see a little bit of his interactions with Batman - and with most of the Justice League. That was a really fun set. Zack [Snyder] runs sort of a big, happy family and it's obviously, in many ways, a very different work environment when you're working on a big, giant movie like that than a relatively small movie like The Meddler. But at the end of the day, the director is the one who sets the tone. And one of the things that Zack and Lorene have in common is they're just nice, smart, competent, fun people that you don't mind spending a 12-hour day with."
"My part is done. They are filming that for basically most of 2016, so some of the superheroes are still at work in jolly old London, but I'm back home with my family."
"For me, it was another example of getting to be a supporting guy and getting to work with Ben again."
"I’m trying to wrap my mind around the whole ‘director is God’ thing. There might be some of that going on in the future. Wow. What am I in for?"
"I am stepping into an iconic character that has been portrayed by a number of wonderful actors, and that's intimidating enough [Laughs]. The new aspects that are being brought to the Batman universe are really intriguing. I'm just doing my best to serve between a combination of my instincts; obviously Zack's guidance; I'll have Ben's guidance in future films where he'll be on both sides of the camera which I'm really excited about. It's a combination of wanting to step into and inhabit that character to the best of my ability and you can't ignore what's gone before, but I'm trying to bring my take to it."
"[on Gordon meeting the JLA] I'm not going to give anything away, but you can't deny that part of the storytelling!"
"Yeah well there’s not a lot of ‘small’ on those kinds of sets. When you’re working with Zack Snyder ‘small’ is not the word that comes to mind, or any of those DC Universe kinds of projects. I mean there are two schools of thought about that for actors. It is kind of nice, in a way—especially when you’re playing a supporting part—to start out just kind of doing a little ‘Oh and then you’re gonna walk down this hall, say hi to this guy, and that’s your day’s work.’ Kinda get your feet wet. Or whether it’s better to just dive into the deep end and get some of the heavy stuff out of the way. It was fun, I mean that whole universe is something I’m really excited to be a part of for a while down the road hopefully."
"That’s what I wanted very much to do. As we sort of went back and forth with Zack and I and the wardrobe and hair and makeup and all those people, saying how we wanted the look to be, I think we all ended up being very much on the same page."