Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey's Biography

Carrey was born in the Toronto suburb of Newmarket, Ontario to Percy and Kathleen Carrey; he has three older siblings, John, Patricia and Rita. His family was Catholic and had distant French Canadian roots (the original surname was Carré). A comedian from an early age, Carrey mailed his résumé to The Carol Burnett Show when he was 10 years old. The teachers in Carrey's high school gave him a few minutes at the end of each school day to do a stand-up comedy routine for his classmates.

Carrey's parents fell on hard times and were forced to move to the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, where they took security and janitorial jobs in the Titan Wheels factory. Carrey began working eight-hour shifts each day after school where he attended Agincourt Collegiate Institute, Scarborough's oldest high school. Eventually, the Carrey family adjusted by living on a relative's lawn out of the family Volkswagen van until they could move back into town.

Carrey dropped out of high school at the age of sixteen and began to work in comedy clubs with an act that included impersonations of celebrities such as Michael Landon and Jimmy Stewart. In 1979, at the age of 17, he moved to Los Angeles and started working in The Comedy Store, where he was noticed by comedian Rodney Dangerfield. Dangerfield liked Carrey's act so much that he signed Carrey up to open Dangerfield's tour performances.

Carrey turned his attention towards filmed entertainment. His first lead role on television was Skip Tarkenton, a young animation producer on NBC's The Duck Factory. The short-lived comedy, which aired from April 12, 1984 to July 11, 1984, offered a behind-the-scenes look at the crew that produced a children's cartoon.

Carrey continued performing in small character roles in film and television, which eventually led to a friendship with fellow comedian Damon Wayans. The two co-starred as aliens in 1989's Earth Girls are Easy. When Wayans' brother Keenen was putting together a sketch comedy show for Fox called In Living Color, Carrey was hired as a cast member. His unusual characters, including female bodybuilder Vera de Milo and the masochistic Fire Marshall Bill, as well his on-screen behavior caught America's (and Hollywood's) attention.

Carrey made his film debut in the short film Rubberface (1981). Four years later, he had a starring role in the dark comedy Once Bitten as Mark Kendall, a teen virgin who is pursued by a 400-year old vampire (Lauren Hutton). Carrey did not experience box office success until almost a decade later when he was cast in the starring role in the comedy Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, which premiered only months before In Living Color ended. The film was panned by critics, and helped earn him a 1994 Golden Raspberry Award nomination as Worst New Star. However, the film was a huge commercial success, as were Carrey's two other starring roles, in The Mask and Dumb and Dumber, both released the same year.

In 1995, Carrey appeared as the Riddler in Batman Forever and reprised his role as Ace Ventura in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. Both films were successful at the box office and earned Carrey multi-million-dollar paychecks.

Carrey made headlines when it was revealed that he was paid twenty million dollars for his next film, The Cable Guy (directed by Ben Stiller), a record sum for a comedy actor. The attention drawn to his salary, coupled with negative reviews for the film and its character's dark mood in contrast to his other performances, all contributed to the film's box office failure. Carrey quickly rebounded with the successful and family-friendly Liar Liar, a return to his trademark comedy style.

Despite the regular comedy successes, Carrey took a chance and a slight paycut to star in The Truman Show (1998), a change of pace that led to forecasts of an Academy Award nomination which did not happen, leading Carrey to joke that "it's an honor just to be nominated ... oh no", during his appearance on the Oscar telecast. The same year, Carrey appeared as a fictionalized version of himself on the final episode of Garry Shandling's The Larry Sanders Show, making an impression by ripping deliberately into Shandling's character.

In 1999, Carrey won the role of comedian Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon. Several actors, including Edward Norton, were interested in the role, but Carrey's audition, including an act with the bongo drums Kaufman used in his performances, helped him be cast. Coincidentally, Carrey was born thirteen years to the day after Kaufman. Despite critical acclaim, he was not nominated for an Academy Award.

In 2000, Carrey re-teamed with the Farrelly Brothers (who had directed him in Dumb & Dumber) in their comedy, Me, Myself and Irene, about a state trooper with multiple personalities who romances a woman played by Renée Zellweger. The film grossed $24 million dollars on its opening weekend and $90 million by the end of its domestic run. Carrey has since continued to appear in successful comedies as well as more dramatic roles. His performance in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) earned high praise from critics, who once again incorrectly predicted that Carrey would receive an Oscar nomination, although the film won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and co-star Kate Winslet received a nomination for her performance.

In 2003, Carrey re-teamed with Tom Shadyac for the financially successful comedy Bruce Almighty. Earning over $242 million in the U.S. and over $458 worldwide, this film became the second highest grossing live-action comedy of all time.

Carrey has been married twice, first to Melissa Womer, with whom he had a daughter, Jane, then to actress Lauren Holly, in a marriage that lasted less than a year. Carrey dated actress Renée Zellweger, whom he met on the set of Me, Myself and Irene, although their relationship ended in December of 2000.

Carrey, who is double-jointed, has a Gulfstream Aerospace Gulfstream V with tail number N162JC and owns a Saleen S7 car. He received a U.S. citizenship on October 7, 2004, and now has a dual citizenship between the U.S. and his native Canada. He went public about his bouts with depression in a November 2004 60 Minutes interview.

Carrey's favorite band is Cannibal Corpse, who appeared in a small cameo in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Carrey insisted on having them play in the film.

Filmography

• The Number 23 (2006)
• Fun With Dick And Jane (2005)
• Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events (2004)
• Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)
• Bruce Almighty (2003)
• The Majestic (2001)
• Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
• Me Myself And Irene(2000)
• Man On The Moon (1999)
• Simon Birch (1998)
• The Truman Show (1998)
• Liar Liar (1997)
• The Cable Guy (1996)
• Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995)
• Batman Forever (1995)
• Dumb and Dumber (1994)
• The Mask (1994)
• Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
• Earth Girls Are Easy (1989)
• The Dead Pool (1988)
• Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
• Once Bitten (1985)
• Rubber Face (1981)

Music Discography

Videos

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