Background
Johnny James Simmons was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and was raised in Dallas, Texas.
Johnny James Simmons was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and was raised in Dallas, Texas.
He attended Nathan Adams Elementary School and Therapeutic Community Marsh Middle School for his early education. In 2005, he graduated from West. T. White High School.
Simmons landed his first feature film role in the 2007 comedy Evan Almighty. He portrayed Dylan Baxter, the oldest of the three sons of Steve Carell"s Evan Baxter and Lauren Graham"s Joan Baxter. He then starred in a number of films, including the 2009 children"s comedy Hotel for Dogs, opposite Jake T. Austin and Emma Roberts.
Also in 2009, Simmons starred in the black comedy horror film Jennifer"s Body as Chip Dove, the boyfriend of Amanda Seyfried"s character, Anita "Needy" Lesnicki.
In 2010, he starred in the comedy film Scott Pilgrim versus the World, portraying Young Neil, a 20-year-old bass guitarist and fan of the fictional band Sex Bob-omb. In 2011, he was cast in a supporting role for the Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum led comedy 21 Jump Street (2012).
The film opened at South by Southwest on March 12, and was released theatrically on March 16, 2012. Also in 2012, Simmons co-starred as the closeted quarterback Brad Hayes, alongside Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, and Ezra Miller, in the teen drama The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
The film is an adaptation of the Stephen Chbosky novel of the same name.
In February 2013, he was cast in The CW"s television drama movie Blink. In 2013, he made a cameo appearance in the music video for Drake"s single "Hold On, We"re Going Home". That same year, Simmons joined the comedy film Frank and Cindy as GJ Erchternkamp, alongside Rene Russo and Oliver Platt.
In 2014, he starred as Jack London in the Discovery Channel miniseries Klondike, the channel"s first scripted series, which detailed the Klondike Gold Rush in the 1890s.
The following year, he co-starred as Jeff Jansen, prisoner 1037 in the thriller film The Stanford Prison Experiment. He will portray the lead role in the upcoming Kevin Pollak-directed comedy-drama The Late Bloomer.