Jim Carrey Biography

Jim Carrey was born in 1962 in Ontario, Canada, and had his first taste of live performance when he performed at the Yuk Yuk comedy club in Toronto. The performance was not as successful as the young Carrey had hoped, but Jim began to frequent open-mic opportunities to hone his craft, and he eventually rose to become the superstar that he is today.

Eventually, Jim Carrey caught the eye of Rodney Dangerfield, who invited Jim to open for him on his comedy tours. After moving to California, Carrey began to perform at the Comedy Store and the Improv. In 1983, he finally performed on the Tonight Show and began his official journey as a professional actor and comedian. During this time, Jim Carrey appeared in a number of films, including Rubberface (1981) and Copper Mountain (1983), and then landed a role on the sitcom The Duck Factory in 1984. After the shows cancellation, supporting roles in another round of films followed: Once Bitten (1985), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), The Dead Pool (1988), and Earth Girls are Easy (1989.) The latter led to Carrey striking a friendship with Damon Wayans, and so when the Wayans brothers began to develop the show In Living Color, Jim joined the cast in 1990.

Jim Carrey’s first big hit was in the film Ace Venture: Pet Detective, in 1984. Although panned by the critics, the film was a smash hit with audiences, and suddenly Carrey was a bankable star. Additional film roles followed, including Dumb and Dumber and The Mask, which earned Jim Carrey a Golden Globe Award nomination. The recognition led to Carrey’s casting in the film Batman Forever (1995), followed by The Cable Guy (1996), and Liar Liar (1997), which earned Carrey another Golden Globe nomination.  But his next role as Truman Burbank would be the one that would finally earn Jim Carrey the recognition he sought, not just for his comedic talents, but also for his wide-range of skills as an actor in general.

The Truman Show was the first film to bring Jim Carrey not just a Golden Globe nomination, but also a win for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama. He followed up with his brilliant performance as comedian Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon, earning a second Golden Globe in the same category. After a return to a series of highly successful comedy films – Me, Myself, and Irene (2000), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), and Bruce Almighty (2003) – he again demonstrated his incredibly wide range of acting talents in the critically acclaimed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a film which received multiple Oscars and earned Carrey yet another Golden Globe nomination.

Since then, Jim Carrey has been an unstoppable force in the world of entertainment, appearing in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), Fun with Dick an dJane (2005), Batman Forever (2007), Yes Man (2008), I Love You Phillip Morris (2009), and Mr. Popper’s Penguins (2011.) He is currently committed to additional films for 2013 and beyond.