Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey, Canadian-born and a U.S. citizen since 2004, is
an actor and producer famous for his rubbery body movements and
flexible facial expressions. The two-time Golden Globe-winner rose to
fame as a cast member of the Fox sketch comedy
In Living Color (1990) but
leading roles in
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994),
Dumb and Dumber (1994) and
The Mask (1994) established him as a
bankable comedy actor.James Eugene Carrey was born on January 17, 1962 in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, and is the youngest of four children of Kathleen (Oram), a homemaker,
and Percy Carrey, an accountant and jazz musician. The family surname
was originally "Carré", and he has French-Canadian, Scottish, and Irish
ancestry. Carrey was an incurable extrovert from day one. As a child,
he performed constantly, for anyone who would watch, and even mailed
his résumé to
The Carol Burnett Show (1967)
at age 10. In junior high, he was granted a few precious minutes at the
end of each school day to do stand-up routines for his classmates
(provided, of course, that he kept a lid on it the rest of the day).Carrey's early adolescence took a turn for the tragic, however, when
the family was forced to relocate from their cozy town of Newmarket to
Scarborough (a Toronto suburb). They all took security and janitorial
jobs in the Titan Wheels factory, Jim working 8-hour shifts after
school let out (not surprisingly, his grades and morale both suffered).
When they finally deserted the factory, the family lived out of a
Volkswagen camper van until they could return to Toronto.Carrey made his stand-up debut in Toronto after his parents and
siblings got back on their feet. He made his (reportedly awful)
professional stand-up debut at Yuk-Yuk's, one of the many local clubs
that would serve as his training ground in the years to come. He
dropped out of high school, worked on his celebrity impersonations
(among them Michael Landon and
James Stewart), and in 1979 worked
up the nerve to move to Los Angeles. He finessed his way into a regular
gig at The Comedy Store, where he impressed
Rodney Dangerfield so much that the
veteran comic signed him as an opening act for an entire season. During
this period Carrey met and married waitress Melissa Womer, with whom he
had a daughter (Jane). The couple would later go through a very messy
divorce, freeing Carrey up for a brief second marriage to actress
Lauren Holly. Wary of falling into the
lounge act lifestyle, Carrey began to look around for other performance
outlets. He landed a part as a novice cartoonist in the short-lived
sitcom
The Duck Factory (1984);
while the show fell flat, the experience gave Carrey the confidence to
pursue acting more vigorously.Carrey also worked on breaking into film around this time. He scored
the male lead in the ill-received
Lauren Hutton vehicle
Once Bitten (1985), and had a
supporting role in
Peggy Sue Got Married (1986),
before making a modest splash with his appearance as the alien Wiploc
in
Earth Girls Are Easy (1988).
Impressed with Carrey's lunacy, fellow extraterrestrial
Damon Wayans made a call to his brother,
Keenen Ivory Wayans, who was in the
process of putting together the sketch comedy show
In Living Color (1990).
Carrey joined the cast and quickly made a name for himself with
outrageous acts (one of his most popular characters, psychotic Fire
Marshall Bill, was attacked by watchdog groups for dispensing ill-
advised safety tips).Following his time on
In Living Color (1990),
Carrey's transformation from TV goofball to marquee headliner happened
within the course of a single year. He opened 1994 with a starring turn
in
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994),
a film that cashed in on his extremely physical brand of humor (the
character's trademark was talking out his derrière). Next up was the
manic superhero movie The Mask (1994),
which had audiences wondering just how far Carrey's features could
stretch.Finally, in December 1994, he hit theaters as a loveable dolt in the
Farrelly brothers'
Dumb and Dumber (1994) (his first
multi-million dollar payday). Now a box-office staple, Carrey brought
his manic antics onto the set of
Batman Forever (1995), replacing
Robin Williams as The Riddler. He
also filmed the follow-up to his breakthrough,
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995),
and inked a deal with Sony to star in
The Cable Guy (1996) (replacing
Chris Farley) for a cool $20
million--at the time, that was the biggest up-front sum that had been
offered to any comic actor. The movie turned out to be a
disappointment, both critically and financially, but Carrey bounced
back the next year with the energetic hit
Liar Liar (1997). Worried that his
comic shtick would soon wear thin, Carrey decided to change course.In 1998, he traded in the megabucks and silly grins to star in
Peter Weir's
The Truman Show (1998) playing a
naive salesman who discovers that his entire life is the subject of a
TV show, Carrey demonstrated an uncharacteristic sincerity that took
moviegoers by surprise. He won a Golden Globe for the performance, and
fans anticipated an Oscar nomination as well--when it didn't
materialize, Carrey lashed out at Academy members for their
narrow-minded selection process. Perhaps inspired by the snub, Carrey
threw himself into his next role with abandon. After edging out a
handful of other hopefuls (including
Edward Norton) to play eccentric
funnyman Andy Kaufman in
Man on the Moon (1999), Carrey
disappeared into the role, living as Kaufman -- and his blustery
alter-ego Tony Clifton -- for months (Carrey even owned Kaufman's bongo
drums, which he'd used during his audition for director
Milos Forman). His sometimes uncanny
impersonation was rewarded with another Golden Globe, but once again
the Academy kept quiet.An indignant Carrey next reprised his bankable mania for the Farrelly
brothers in
Me, Myself & Irene (2000),
playing a state trooper whose Jekyll and Hyde personalities both fall
in love with the same woman
(Renée Zellweger). Carrey's real-life
persona wound up falling for her too--a few months after the film
wrapped, the pair announced they were officially a couple. By then,
Carrey had already slipped into a furry green suit to play the stingy
antihero of Ron Howard's
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000).Although Carrey maintains a foothold in the comedy world with films
such as Bruce Almighty (2003) and
Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011),
he is also capable of turning in nuanced dramatic performances, as
demonstrated in films like
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
and the drama/comedy Yes Man (2008). In
2013, he costars with Steve Carell in
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013).Carrey has one child with his first wife,
Melissa Carrey, whom he divorced in 1995.
He married actress Lauren Holly in 1996,
but they split less than a year later.