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J. K. Simmons Will Be Only the Latest Villain to Triumph as a Best Supporting Actor

3 minute read

Veteran actor J. K. Simmons is considered the overwhelming favorite for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar this year for his performance as abusive jazz teacher Terrence Fletcher in Whiplash, and it’s thanks to a confluence of factors. Simmons, who’s been in everything from TV’s Oz to Spider-Man to M&Ms commercials, is widely respected among the acting community; his performance in Whiplash is very strong and he’s spent a lot of time promoting it. But one factor elevates him, perhaps, above the rest: He’s a villain.

The Oscars’ Best Supporting Actor category has lately been susceptible to the charms of a well-drawn nemesis. For three years running at the end of the last decade, trophies went to Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight, and Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds. Each of these performances were so exultantly evil as to practically necessitate mustache-twirling, and Simmons’s, with its flagrant verbal abuse, is much the same.

Of course, it’s been five years since the streak of villains in this category came to a temporary end; the intervening years saw Christian Bale win for The Fighter, Christopher Plummer for Beginners, Christoph Waltz again for Django Unchained, and Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club. But these performances help show us why Oscar’s villains tend to triumph. With the exception of Bale’s character, who suffers only semi-nobly, all of the past four winners are as uncomplicatedly good as the three who preceded them are uncomplicatedly evil. Not just any villain can take the trophy: Last year saw Leto, playing a near-saint, defeating Barkhad Abdi in Captain Phillips and Michael Fassbender in 12 Years a Slave, both of whom played their films’ principal antagonists. Both Abdi’s and Fassbender’s performances were uncomfortably real. Abdi’s performance as a Somali pirate was informed by what we understood to be his character’s real-life poverty. Fassbender’s was informed by something that looked too much like madness.

It’s easier to honor a villain when he is charming or cinematically unrealistic. Ledger, Waltz, and now Simmons all played characters whose allure lay in their way with words, drawing viewers in even as they committed emotional, or real, violence. It was a playbook followed by past winners including the murderous Joe Pesci in Goodfellas and the mendacious Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects. As for Bardem’s character, his violence was so outlandishly beyond what we could comprehend, much like Simmons’s verbal abuse, that it didn’t feel like voters were rewarding a sort of evil that could exist in the real world.

Perhaps the only surprise to Simmons’s win is that his type of character doesn’t triumph yet more frequently. After all, a villain role allows a competent actor juicier lines and a thicker air of mystery than anything else on film; it also, no matter how much screentime the actor actually gets, puts him on equal footing with the hero. The award may be for a “supporting” actor, but villains steal the show.

See All the Best Actors in Oscar History

Schauspieler Emil Jannings
1929: Emil Jannings - The Last Command and The Way of All FleshImagno/Getty Images
Warner Baxter
1930: Warner Baxter - In Old ArizonaHulton Archive/Getty Images
George Arliss (1868-1946), English actor, 20th century.
1931: George Arliss - DisraeliPrint Collector/Getty Images
Cinema Personalities. pic: circa 1930's. American actor Lionel Barrymore. (1878-1954) a major star of films and a famed actor. He was also noted as a artist, author, composer and director, one of the famous Barrymore acting family.
1932: Lionel Barrymore - A Free SoulPopperfoto/Getty Images
Fredric March
1933: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1947: Fredric March - The Best Years of Our LivesPopperfoto/Getty Images
Wallace Beery
1933: Wallace Beery - The ChampPopperfoto/Getty Images
Charles Laughton
1934: Charles Laughton - The Private Life of Henry VIIIHulton Archive/Getty Images
Clark Gable
1935: Clark Gable - It Happened One NightMichael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Victor McLaglen, British boxer and actor, 1934-1935.
1936: Victor McLaglen - The InformerPrint Collector/Getty Images
Paul Muni, American film actor, 1934-1935.
1937: Paul Muni - The Story of Louis PasteurPrint Collector/Getty Images
Spencer Tracy
1938: Spencer Tracy - Captains Courageous 1939: Spencer Tracy - Boys TownClarence Sinclair Bull—John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images
Robert Donat
1940: Robert Donat - Goodbye, Mr. ChipsSilver Screen Collection/Getty Images
James Stewart
1941: James Stewart - The Philadelphia StoryJohn Kobal Foundation/Getty Images
Cooper Promo Shot
1942: Gary Cooper - Sergeant York 1953: Gary Cooper - High NoonHulton Archive/Getty Images
Cinema. Personalities. circa 1940's. American actor James Cagney portrait one of Hollywood's pre-eminent stars famous for his "tough-guy" roles.
1943: James Cagney - Yankee Doodle DandyPopperfoto/Getty Images
Paul Lukas
1944: Paul Lukas - Watch on the RhinePopperfoto/Getty Images
Bing Crosby
1945: Bing Crosby - Going My WayHulton Archive/Getty Images
Ray Milland
1946: Ray Milland - The Lost WeekendSilver Screen Collection/Getty Images
Portrait of Ronald Colman
1948: Ronald Colman - A Double LifeGetty Images
Portrait Of Laurence Olivier
1949: Laurence Olivier - HamletMondadori/Getty Images
Broderick Crawford
1950: Broderick Crawford - All the King's MenColumbia Pictures/Getty Images
José Ferrer in Anything Can Happen
1951: José Ferrer - Cyrano de BergeracMondadori/Getty Images
Humphrey Bogart In 'Sabrina'
1952: Humphrey Bogart - The African QueenArchive Photos/Getty Images
WILLIAM HOLDEN 1953
1954: William Holden - Stalag 17Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images
Marlon Brando
1955: Marlon Brando - On the Waterfront 1973: Marlon Brando - The GodfatherHulton Archive/Getty Images
Ernest Borgnine
1956: Ernest Borgnine - MartyGAB Archive/Redferns/Getty Images
Yul Brynner
1957: Yul Brynner - The King and IArchive Photos/Getty Images
Barnacle Bill
1958: Alec Guinness - The Bridge on the River KwaiHulton Archive/Getty Images
David Niven
1959: David Niven - Separate TablesSilver Screen Collection/Getty Images
Charlton Heston dressed as Ben Hur
1960: Charlton Heston - Ben-HurMondadori/Getty Images
Burt Lancaster
1961: Burt Lancaster - Elmer GantryArchive Photos/Getty Images
Maximillian Schell
1962: Maximilian Schell - Judgment at NurembergPictorial Parade/Getty Images
Gregory Peck
1963: Gregory Peck - To Kill a MockingbirdSilver Screen Collection/Getty Images
Publicity Still From 'For Love Of Ivy'
1964: Sidney Poitier - Lilies of the FieldJohn D. Kisch—Separate Cinema Archive/Getty Images
Rex Harrison In 'My Fair Lady'
1965: Rex Harrison - My Fair LadyArchive Photos/Getty Images
Lee Marvin
1966: Lee Marvin - Cat BallouSilver Screen Collection/Getty Images
Paul Scofield In 'A Man For All Seasons'
1967: Paul Scofield - A Man for All SeasonsMichael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
In The Heat of the Night
1968: Rod Steiger - In the Heat of the NightSilver Screen Collection/Getty Images
Cliff Robertson
1969: Cliff Robertson - CharlyCamerique/Getty Images
John Wayne
1970: John Wayne - True GritPhotoshot/Getty Images
Patton
1971: George C. Scott - PattonSilver Screen Collection/Getty Images
Gene Hackman In 'The French Connection'
1972: Gene Hackman - The French Connection20th Century Fox/Getty Images
Jack Lemmon
1974: Jack Lemmon - Save the TigerSilver Screen Collection/Getty Images
47th Annual Academy Awards, 1975
1975: Art Carney - Harry and TontoRon Galella—WireImage/Getty Images
Jack Nicholson In 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'
1976: Jack Nicholson - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1998: Jack Nicholson - As Good as It GetsArchive Photos/Getty Images
Peter Finch In 'Network'
1977: Peter Finch - NetworkMichael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
35th Annual Golden Globe Awards
1978: Richard Dreyfuss - The Goodbye GirlRon Galella—WireImage/Getty Images
"The Champ" Press Party
1979: Jon Voight - Coming HomeRon Galella—WireImage/Getty Images
AFI Salute to James Stewart
1980: Dustin Hoffman - Kramer vs. Kramer 1989: Dustin Hoffman - Rain ManRon Galella—WireImage/Getty Images
Actor's Studio Conference
1981: Robert De Niro - Raging BullRon Galella—WireImage/Getty Images
JAN 2 1980, AUG 12 1982, AUG 13 1982, MAR 18 1983; At ceremonies at the Denver Center for the Perfor
1982: Henry Fonda - On Golden PondLyn Alweis—Denver Post/Getty Images
Ben Kingsley
1983: Ben Kingsley - GandhiDoug McKenzie—Getty Images
Robert Duvall
1984: Robert Duvall - Tender MerciesDave Allocca—DMI/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
57th Annual Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon
1985: F. Murray Abraham - AmadeusRon Galella—WireImage/Getty Images
William Hurt
1986: William Hurt - Kiss of the Spider WomanTerry O'Neill—Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The Color Of Money
1987: Paul Newman - The Color of MoneyMichael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
People's Choice
1988: Michael Douglas - Wall StreetDarlene Hammond—Archive Photos/Getty Images
62nd Annual Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon
1990: Daniel Day-Lewis - My Left Foot 2008: Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood 2013: Daniel Day-Lewis - LincolnRon Galella—WireImage/Getty Images
16th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
1991: Jeremy Irons - Reversal of FortuneRon Galella—WireImage/Getty Images
"Howard's End" Benefit for AmFAR
1992: Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the LambsRon Galella—WireImage/Getty Images
American Museum of the Moving Image Tribute to Al Pacino
1993: Al Pacino - Scent of a WomanRon Galella—WireImage/Getty Images
Tom Hanks
1994: Tom Hanks - Philadelphia 1995: Tom Hanks - Forrest Gump Time Life Pictures/DMI/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
1996 National Board of Review Awards Dinner
1996: Nicolas Cage - Leaving Las VegasRon Galella—WireImage/Getty Images
Presentation of Memorabilia From "Shine"
1997: Geoffrey Rush - ShineRon Galella—WireImage/Getty Images
4th Broadcast Film Critics Awards
1999: Roberto Benigni - Life Is Beautiful Ron Galella—WireImage/Getty Images
"The Big Kahuna" Premiere
2000: Kevin Spacey - American BeautyRon Galella—WireImage/Getty Images
Celebs at British Academy Film Awards
2001: Russell Crowe - Gladiator UK Press/Newsmakers/Getty Images
74th Annual Academy Awards - Pressroom
2002: Denzel Washington - Training DayFrank Micelotta—ImageDirect/Getty Images
The 75th Annual Academy Awards - Press Room
2003: Adrien Brody - The PianistJeffrey Mayer—WireImage/Getty Images
Sean Penn arrives for the 76th Academy A
2004: Sean Penn - Mystic River 2009: Sean Penn - MilkJeff Haynes—AFP/Getty Images
Onset For Jamie Foxx Music Video
2005: Jamie Foxx - RayPeter Kramer—Getty Images
Stars Promote 'Mission Impossible III' In Rome
2006: Philip Seymour Hoffman - CapoteElisabetta Villa—Getty Images
22nd Annual Santa Barbara Film Festival - American Riviera Award Presented to Forest Whitaker
2007: Forest Whitaker - The Last King of ScotlandMason Trullinger—FilmMagic/Getty Images
9th Annual New York Times Arts & Leisure Weekend - Day 3
2010: Jeff Bridges - Crazy HeartJemal Countess—Getty Images
The Debt - UK Premiere - Inside Arrivals
2011: Colin Firth - The King's SpeechDave Hogan—Getty Images
BAFTA Los Angeles 18th Annual Awards Season Tea Party - Red Carpet
2012: Jean Dujardin - The ArtistFrazer Harrison—Getty Images
86th Annual Academy Awards - Press Room
2014: Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers ClubJason Merritt—Getty Images
US-OSCARS-GOVERNORS BALL
2015: Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of EverythingValerie Macon—AFP/Getty Images
88th Annual Academy Awards - Press Room
2016: Leonardo DiCaprio - The RevenantC Flanigan—Getty Images
89th Annual Academy Awards -  Press Room
2017: Casey Affleck - Manchester by the SeaJason LaVeris—Getty Images
TOPSHOT-US-OSCARS-PRESSROOM
2018: Gary Oldman - Darkest HourFrederic J. Brown—AFP/Getty Images
RAMI MALEK
2019: Remi Malek - Bohemian RhapsodyEd Herrera—ABC/Getty Images

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Write to Diane Tsai at diane.tsai@time.com