Johnny Simmons

Johnny Simmons is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Dylan Baxter in Evan Almighty, Chip Dove in Jennifer's Body (2009), Dave in Hotel for Dogs (2009), "Young Neil" Nordegraf in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023), Cameron in The To Do List (2013) with Aubrey Plaza, Brad Hayes in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), serial killer Adam "Balloon Man" Kemper in Elementary (2012), Peter Newmans in The Late Bloomer (2016), and Shane in Girlboss (2017).

Early life

Simmons grew up in Dallas, Texas.

Career 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 vs. 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 is an adaptation of the Stephen Chbosky novel of the same name. In February 2013, he was cast in The CW's television drama film 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. Also that same year, he starred in the short film Whiplash, excerpted from a screenplay by Damien Chazelle, the complete version of which became an Academy Award-winning feature-length film of the same name. 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. In 2015, he co-starred as Jeff Jansen in the thriller film The Stanford Prison Experiment, and in 2016, had the lead role in four films, the border-set thriller Transpecos, the comedy-musical Dreamland, the baseball drama The Phenom, and Kevin Pollak's comedy The Late Bloomer.

On March 30, 2023, it was announced that Simmons would reprise his role as Young Neil in the Netflix series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.

After a six-year hiatus, Simmons returned to live-action performance with a small role in the 2023 drama film Sing Sing. Simmons played an unnamed inmate who was scammed out of five hundred dollars by Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin. He also appeared as a local deputy in the action-comedy film Bad Man.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 2004 Then Hereafter Young Eric Short film 2006 My Ambition Jules Walters 2007 Evan Almighty Dylan Baxter Boogeyman 2 Paul 2008 Trucker Teenager #1 The Spirit Young Denny Colt 2009 Hotel for Dogs Dave The Greatest Ryan Brewer Jennifer's Body Chip Dove 2010 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World "Young Neil" Nordegraf The Conspirator John Surratt 2012 21 Jump Street Billiam Willingham A Bag of Hammers Kelsey Patterson at 18 The Perks of Being a Wallflower Brad Hayes 2013 Whiplash Andrew Neiman Short film The To Do List Cameron Mitchell 2015 The Stanford Prison Experiment Jeff Jansen / 1037 Frank and Cindy GJ Echternkamp 2016 Transpecos Benjamin Davis Dreamland Monty Fagan The Phenom Hopper Gibson The Late Bloomer Dr. Peter Newmans 2023Sing SingClay 2025 Bad ManSam Evans

Television Year Title Role Notes 2006 Numbers Matt McCrary Episode: "Killer Chat" 2011 Cinema Verite Kevin Loud Television film 2012 Elementary Adam Kemper / The Balloon Man Episode: "Child Predator" 2013 Blink Dodge Trask Television film 2014 Klondike Jack London Miniseries; 6 episodes 2015 The Good Wife Erik Barsetto Episode: "Innocents" 2017 Girlboss Shane Main role 2023 Scott Pilgrim Takes Off "Young Neil" Nordegraf