Jim Carrey

James Eugene Carrey, born January 17, 1962, in Newmarket, Ontario, is a Canadian and American actor and comedian known for high-energy slapstick, elastic facial expressions, and a style of performance that could seem almost physically impossible. He became one of the most prominent comedic actors of his generation, winning two Golden Globe Awards and receiving nominations from the BAFTA Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards. Before film audiences knew him as a star, he spent the 1980s shaping his comedy act and taking supporting roles, building the timing and intensity that would later make him instantly recognizable.

Carrey’s early life gave him both hardship and material. He was raised Catholic, one of four children of Kathleen, a homemaker, and Percy Carrey, a musician and accountant. At age eight, he began making faces in front of a mirror and found he had a gift for impressions. At ten, he wrote to Carol Burnett, telling her he was already a master of impressions and should be considered for her show. He was thrilled to receive a form letter in return. He also admired Monty Python, later recalling the effect of Michael Palin’s performance in “The Funniest Joke in the World” sketch.

His family’s financial struggles were severe. At one point they became homeless and lived together in a Volkswagen van, while teenage Carrey and his brother spent months in a tent in Charles Daley Park on the Lake Ontario shore. When his father found work at the Titan Wheels tire factory in Scarborough, the family’s situation improved, but Carrey and his older brother worked long overnight shifts as janitors and security guards. Carrey later said that if show business had not worked out, he would probably have been working at the Dofasco steel mill in Hamilton.

Carrey first tried stand-up in 1977, at age fifteen, when his father helped him put together an act and drove him to Yuk Yuk’s in downtown Toronto. The debut went badly, and his family’s money problems made it hard to support his ambitions. But after the family found more stability, he returned to the stage in 1979 with a sharper act, earned a first paid spot, and began moving from open-mic nights to regular paid shows. He also auditioned for Saturday Night Live for the 1980–81 season but was not selected. Years later, after becoming a major film star, he hosted the show in 1996, 2011, and 2014.

His breakthrough came on the Fox sketch comedy series In Living Color, where he was a cast member from 1990 to 1994. Then 1994 made him a film phenomenon: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber all became box office hits. He followed them with Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and Batman Forever in 1995. The success of those five films made him the first comic actor to receive an upfront $20 million salary for film work, beginning with The Cable Guy in 1996. He continued in major comedies such as Liar Liar, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Bruce Almighty, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Yes Man.

Though often typecast as a comic actor, Carrey also found success in dramatic roles. He won Golden Globes for The Truman Show and for playing Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon, and he earned BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Later work included Dumb and Dumber To, Doctor Eggman in the Sonic the Hedgehog film series, and the Showtime tragicomedy Kidding, which brought him another Golden Globe nomination. His words still connect because they come from someone who knew rejection, money trouble, reinvention, and public attention. As one quote on this site puts it, “You stop explaining yourself when you realize people only understand from their level of perception.”