Industry veterans among Best Supporting Actor nominees

LOS ANGELES -- In Oscar's best supporting actor category for 2015, four men have been down the red carpet as nominees before: Ethan Hawke has three nods, in acting and writing; Edward Norton has two; Mark Ruffalo has one. Then there's Robert Duvall, who's nominated for the seventh time!

Rounding out the pack is first-timer J.K. Simmons. He may be new to the Academy's world, but he's been a working actor for more than 30 years.

Simmons' intense role as the abusive music instructor in "Whiplash" has brought him fully into the spotlight, and Simmons is basking in the glow.

"I'm not going to miss this window of opportunity," Simmons said. "My wife calls it the 'Whiplash' effect. Doors that were sort of ajar have been kicked open by people seeing this movie, so I've had really interesting offers coming."

Simmons says he's taken time to enjoy this awards season.

"Why not?" he laughed. "There's all this positive attention coming our way for the whole movie and you know for my work as well. It's also a movie that I'm so unabashedly proud of and ecstatic to have been a part of."

Robert Duvall is equally proud of his supporting actor nod for "The Judge." He's won an Oscar before in the lead actor category for 1983's "Tender Mercies." He's also been nominated for lead actor in "The Apostle" and "The Great Santini." His previous supporting nods were for "A Civil Action," "Apocalypse Now" and "The Godfather."

While "The Judge" welcomes Duvall back into the Oscar fold, he says it's a part he initially turned down!

"At first I kind of refused it because it was a lot of negative stuff, but then once I decided to do it, I knew I had to dig really, just do it."

Surprisingly, Duvall says he doesn't get offered as many parts as we might think.

"Some. Enough," he said. "Sometimes when you plan something, then something comes around the corner and surprises you. That's what happened with 'The Judge.' It just suddenly appeared out of nowhere!"

We'll see which of the best supporting actor nominees takes home Oscar gold on Sunday, Feb. 22 on ABC.