Jim Carrey
James Eugene Carrey (/ˈkæri/; born January 17, 1962)[2] is a Canadian-American actor and comedian known for his energetic slapstick performances.[3] After spending the 1980s honing his stand-up comedy act and portraying mostly supporting roles in films, Carrey gained wide recognition in 1990 when he was cast in the American sketch comedy television series In Living Color (1990–1994). He broke out as a film star after starring in a string of box office hits with Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber (all 1994), which he followed up with Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and Batman Forever (both 1995). The success of these five films led to Carrey being the first actor to receive a $20 million salary for performing in films, beginning with The Cable Guy (1996).[4]
"James Carrey" redirects here. For other uses, see James Carey (disambiguation).
Jim Carrey
- Canada
- United States[1]
- Actor
- comedian
1977–present
-
Melissa Womer(m. 1987; div. 1995)
Jenny McCarthy (2005–2010)
1
- Stand-up
- film
- television
He continued to have success as a leading actor in comedies such as Liar Liar (1997), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Bruce Almighty (2003), Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) and Yes Man (2008). Starting in the 2010s, Carrey began to appear in fewer films, with his notable roles since then including reprising the part of Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber To (2014) and portraying Dr. Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) and its 2022 and 2024 sequels.
Although largely typecast as a comedic actor, Carrey has had success in dramatic roles. His critically-acclaimed performances include Truman Burbank in The Truman Show (1998) and Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon (1999), winning Golden Globe Awards for each film. He later starred in the psychological science fiction romantic drama film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004); for which he was nominated for both a BAFTA Award and another Golden Globe Award. He also starred as Jeff Piccirillo in the Showtime tragicomedy series Kidding (2018–2020), for which he received his seventh Golden Globe nomination.
Early life
Carrey was born in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada,[2] to Kathleen (née Oram), a homemaker, and Percy Carrey, a musician and accountant.[5][6] He was raised Catholic and has three older siblings, John, Patricia, and Rita.[7][8] His mother was of French, Irish, and Scottish descent, and his father was of French-Canadian ancestry; the family's original surname was Carré.[9][10][11]
At age eight, he began making faces before a mirror and discovered a talent for doing impressions.[12] At age ten, Carrey wrote a letter to Carol Burnett of the Carol Burnett Show pointing out that he was already a master of impressions and should be considered for a role on the show; he was overjoyed when he received a form letter reply.[13] A fan of Monty Python, whose TV show Monty Python's Flying Circus aired in the 1970s, in 2014 Carrey appeared on Monty Python's Best Bits (Mostly) and recalled the effect on him of Ernest Scribbler (played by Michael Palin) laughing himself to death in "The Funniest Joke in the World" sketch.[14] Radio Times states, "You'll see why immediately: Palin's performance is uncannily Carreyesque."[14]
Carrey spent his early years in the borough of Scarborough, Ontario, part of Metropolitan Toronto, where he attended Blessed Trinity Catholic Elementary School in North York. His family later moved to Burlington, Ontario, where they would spend eight years; Jim attended Aldershot High School while there.[15] Some time later, his family became homeless and lived together in a Volkswagen van while teenage Jim and his brother spent months living in a tent in Charles Daley Park on the Lake Ontario shore in Lincoln, Ontario.[16][17] The family struggled financially, however, their situation started improving once his father found employment in the accounting department at the Titan Wheels tire factory in Scarborough.[17] Furthermore, in return for living in the house across the street from the factory, the family—primarily teenage sons Jim and John—would work as janitors and security guards at the tire factory, doing eight-hour shifts from 6 pm into the next morning.[17] Moving back to Scarborough, teenage Jim started attending Agincourt Collegiate Institute before dropping out of school on his sixteenth birthday. He began to perform comedy in downtown Toronto while continuing to work at the factory.
In a 2007 Hamilton Spectator interview, Carrey said, "If my career in show business hadn't panned out I would probably be working today in Hamilton, Ontario, at the Dofasco steel mill." As a young man, he could see the steel mills across the Burlington Bay and often thought that was "where the great jobs were."[18]
Career
1977–1983: Early impressionist work in Toronto
Carrey's first stand-up comedy experience took place in 1977 at the age of 15 with his father trying to help him put together a stage act, driving him to downtown Toronto to debut at the recently-opened Yuk Yuk's comedy club operating one-night-a-week out of community centre The 519's basement on Church Street.[17][19] For the performance, Carrey had his attire—a polyester leisure suit—chosen by his mother who reasoned "that's how they dress on The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast".[20][17] Pubescent Carrey's conventional impersonations bombed, proving ill-suited for a club with a raunchy comedic sensibility and giving him doubts about his potential as a professional entertainer.[17] Decades later, recalling Carrey's stand-up debut, Yuk Yuk's owner Mark Breslin described it as "bad Rich Little".[17] His family's financial struggles made it difficult for them to support Carrey's show business ambitions.
Eventually, the family's financial situation improved and they moved into a new home in Jackson's Point.[19][21] With more domestic stability, Carrey returned to the stage in 1979 with a more polished act that led to his first paid gig: a 20-minute spot at the Hay Loft club on Highway 48 in Scarborough for a reported Can$20 compensation on a bill with the Mother of Pearl performer from The Pig and Whistle.[22] He soon faced his fears and went back downtown to the site of his debacle from two years earlier—Yuk Yuk's that had in the meantime moved into a permanent location on Bay Street in the fashionable Yorkville district. In a short period of time, the seventeen-year-old went from open-mic nights at the club to regular paid shows, building his reputation in the process.
Parallel to his increasing local Toronto-area popularity as an impressionist stand-up comic, Carrey tried to break into sketch comedy, auditioning to be a cast member for the 1980–81 season of NBC's Saturday Night Live. Carrey ended up not being selected by the show's new executive producer Jean Doumanian who picked thirty-one-year-old Charles Rocket instead.[23] Decades later, after establishing himself as a Hollywood film star, Carrey would host the show in May 1996, January 2011, and October 2014.[24][25] After not getting Saturday Night Live, Carrey took a voice acting job performing Clutch Cargo-inspired bits on The All-Night Show, an overnight program airing locally on the CFMT-TV channel branded as Multilingual Television (MTV).[26]
Continuing to perform his stand-up act of contortionist impressions in the city of Toronto and surrounding towns, in February 1981, nineteen-year-old Carrey was booked as the opening act for the rock band Goddo at The Roxy Theatre in Barrie for two shows on consecutive nights; the rock crowd booed him offstage and he refused to return for the second night.[27] Two weeks later, however, a review of one of Carrey's spots at Yuk Yuk's—alongside a sizeable photo of him doing a stage impression of Sammy Davis Jr.—appeared in the Toronto Star on the front page of its entertainment section with the writer Bruce Blackadar raving about "a genuine star coming to life".[28][29] Save for a brief mention in the Barrie Examiner, it was the first time Carrey received significant mainstream corporate media coverage and the glowing praise in one of Canada's highest-circulation dailies created demand for his impressionist stand-up act throughout the country.[29][22] In April 1981, he appeared in an episode of the televised stand-up show An Evening at the Improv.[30] That summer, he landed one of the main roles in Introducing... Janet, a made-for-TV movie that premiered in September 1981 on the CBC drawing more than a million viewers for its first airing in Canada.[31] Playing a struggling impressionist comic Tony Maroni, it was Carrey's first acting role. The CBC promotion the movie had received as well its subsequent high nationwide viewership further solidified the youngster's comedic status in the country; by the time the movie finished its CBC run of repeats several years later, its title for the home video release on VHS was changed to Rubberface in order to take advantage of the comic's by then established prominence for doing elaborate contortionist impressions.[31] Making more comedy club appearances in the United States, Carrey was noticed by comedian Rodney Dangerfield who signed Carrey to open his tour performances. By December 1981, a well-known comic in Canada, Toronto Star reported about Carrey waiting for a United States work permit having received interest from Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, largely off his reputation from Canada.[32][33]
In the early part of 1982, Carrey reportedly performed for The Tonight Show bookers Jim McCawley and Bud Robinson as part of the program's audition process for stand-up comic spots.[34] However, rather than being booked on the show, Carrey got advised to further hone his act, so he went back home to the Toronto area where he had already built a significant following.[34] Touring venues throughout North America as the opening act for Rodney Dangerfield, Carrey made a stop at home in Toronto on 19 June 1982, performing two sold-out shows at Massey Hall.
1983–1994: Move to Hollywood
In early 1983, Carrey decided to move to Hollywood where he began regularly performing at The Comedy Store. Getting on The Tonight Show became his immediate career goal, and, by spring 1983, he appeared to have achieved it after getting booked for a stand-up set on the highly-rated late night show.[35] However, a lukewarm club set at The Improv got him unbooked.[35] Though struggling to replicate his success in Los Angeles, Carrey continued being a big hit in his hometown Toronto where he returned during late April 1983 to perform at the short-lived B.B. Magoon's theatrical venue on Bloor Street on three consecutive nights. While in town, CTV's flagship newsmagazine program W5 did a feature on Carrey that aired nationally in Canada. Back in L.A., within months, he landed the main role on The Duck Factory, a sitcom being developed for NBC, and, in late November 1983, still got to debut his impressionist act on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson via a promotional appearance for the sitcom about to start airing nationally in the United States on the same network.[35] In the meantime, he was cast for a supporting role in the Warner Bros. comedy production Finders Keepers, shot in the Canadian province of Alberta during late summer 1983. For his Tonight Show appearance that aired on American Thanksgiving, 21-year-old Carrey went through his most popular impressions—Elvis Presley, Leonid Brezhnev, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, Michael Landon, James Dean, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Charles Nelson Reilly, characters from My Three Sons, and Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy—in rapid succession.[36] After completing his set, though getting the OK gesture from Carson, the impressionist comic was notably not waved over by the host to join him on the couch—a usual indication that while sufficiently pleased, the powerful host was probably not ecstatic about the performance.[37] The end of 1983 saw Carrey go back home to Toronto once more for a publicized New Years' Eve performance at the Royal York Hotel's Imperial Room.
Originally scheduled to start airing in January 1984, The Duck Factory sitcom debut in April, airing Thursdays at 9:30pm between Cheers and Hill Street Blues.[38][39] The same month, Carrey took a job hosting the 1984 U-Know Awards ceremony held in Toronto at the Royal York Hotel's Ballroom.[40] By the time he made his debut appearance on NBC's Late Night with David Letterman in late July 1984, the network had already cancelled The Duck Factory; Carrey went back to touring with his impressionist act, including often opening for Rodney Dangerfield.
After being noticed doing stand-up by producer Samuel Goldwyn Jr. and contacted to audition for a teen horror sex comedy being developed by The Samuel Goldwyn Company, Carrey landed a starring role in Once Bitten shot in early 1985.[41] Carrey would continue getting film roles; throughout late summer and early fall 1985, he shot a supporting part in Francis Ford Coppola's Peggy Sue Got Married which went into a long post-production process.[41] In parallel, he decided to try out for Saturday Night Live again, this time ahead of the show's 1985–86 season being prepared by returning executive producer Lorne Michaels who was looking to hire an all-new cast. Five years removed from his previous SNL audition, twenty-three-year-old Carrey was rejected again, reportedly never even getting the chance to audition his material—'post-nuclear Elvis' hybrid impression and impersonation of Henry Fonda from On Golden Pond—in front of executive producer Michaels due to the show's producers and senior writers Al Franken, Tom Davis, and Jim Downey deciding that Michaels would not like it.[42] Unlike his previous SNL rejection, Carrey now had a bit of a film career to fall back on in addition to his impressionist stand-up act; Once Bitten was released in mid November 1985 and turned out to be a modest box-office hit despite drawing poor reviews.
Back on the comedy club circuit with impressions, in fall 1986, Carrey auditioned for SNL's upcoming season, his third attempt at getting on the ensemble sketch comedy show. Finally managing to perform for the show's executive producer Lorne Michaels at a Burbank studio, with returning cast members Dennis Miller, Jon Lovitz, and Nora Dunn also watching the audition, Carrey was rejected again.[42] Among the group of hopefuls auditioning alongside Carrey on this occasion were Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman, both of whom were hired.[42]
Sensing that doing only impressions was turning into a career dead-end, Carrey set out to develop a new live comedy act.[43] Much to the dismay of comedy club owners booking him, he began abandoning trademark celebrity impressions, opting instead to try adding observational and character humour to his comedic repertoire, a process that often involved forcing himself to improvise and scramble in front of dissatisfied live audiences that came to see him do impressions.[43]
From 1990 to 1994, Carrey was a regular cast member of the ensemble comedy television series In Living Color.[44] While the series was short-lived, its popularity helped him to land his first few major film roles.
1994–1998: Rise to fame
Carrey played the lead role in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective which was released in February 1994 and went on to gross $72 million in the United States and Canada.[45] Following its success and before the release of his next film, The Mask, which was anticipated to be another hit, Morgan Creek Productions paid him $5 million to reprise his role as Ace Ventura and New Line Cinema offered him $7 million to make a sequel to The Mask and paid him $7 million to appear in Dumb and Dumber, a nearly tenfold increase on his salary for Ace Ventura.[46][47] The Mask, released in July 1994, grossed $351 million worldwide,[48][49] and Dumb and Dumber, released in December 1994, was another commercial success, grossing over $270 million worldwide.[50] Carrey received his first Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor for his work in The Mask and was voted second on Quigley's Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll, behind Tom Hanks.[51]