Some people discovered J.K. Simmons through
Oz, the gritty prison drama that put HBO on the map. Others noticed him in Sam Raimi’s
Spider-Man (2002), as the cigar-chomping J. Jonah Jameson. Still more discovered him only a few years ago, when he accepted an Oscar in 2015 for Damien Chazelle’s
Whiplash
. But Simmons didn’t just materialize in the late 1990s. The beloved character actor, who was born on January 9, 1955, has been around for decades—he was just delivering singing telegrams for part of that time. What else should you know about his life and career? Well for starters, here’s his real name …