Which actor won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Whiplash?

J. K. Simmons won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Whiplash.

Simmons plays Terence Fletcher, an intimidating and abusive jazz instructor at the fictional Shaffer Conservatory. Fletcher pushes young drummer Andrew Neiman, played by Miles Teller, through relentless rehearsals in pursuit of musical greatness. Simmons’s performance made the teacher both terrifying and strangely compelling.

At the 87th Academy Awards in 2015, Simmons won Best Supporting Actor for Whiplash. The film also won Oscars for Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing, and it was nominated for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Simmons’s Oscar campaign followed major wins at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Critics’ Choice Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

The main potential confusion is Miles Teller, whose character is the film’s central drummer and whose performance drives much of the story. Teller was not the Oscar winner; Simmons received the supporting-actor award for playing Fletcher. Whiplash began as Damien Chazelle’s 2013 short film before becoming the acclaimed feature.