Jim Carrey
He is best-known for his manic, slapstick performances in comedy films such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Dumb & Dumber, The Mask, Liar Liar and Bruce Almighty. Carrey has also achieved critical success in dramatic roles in films such as The Truman Show, The Majestic, Man on the Moon and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Carrey was born in the town of Newmarket, Ontario to Percy and Kathleen Carrey; he has three older siblings, John, Patricia and Rita. His family is 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 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.
Carrey has stated that he finds the prospect of reprising a character to be less enticing than taking on a new role, and fans say he rarely turns down roles because he enjoys trying new things.
