Celebrity RowJim Carrey

Jim Carrey

Born: Jan. 17, 1962 Newmarket, Ontario, Canada

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Jim Carrey was born just outside of Toronto, in Newmarket, Onario, on January 17th, 1962. He started playing the comedy clubs in Canada when he was fifteen. He then toured throughout the States. After getting cast in Richard Lester’s Finders Keepers, he landed the starring role in The Duck Factory, a short-lived flop set in an animation studio.

Roles like Peggy Sue Got Married and Earth Girls Are Easy followed, but he really caught the attention of the audience when he was made part of the ensemble on FOX’s sketch comedy show In Living Color. His gift for physical comedy and impersonations made him the must-watch member of the cast.

His rocket ride to fame was really ignited when he starred in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective which surprised everyone by becoming a giant hit. He followed that with another physical comedy The Mask, which also featured a then unknown Cameron Diaz.

How do you follow two big hits? With a third, of course. Teamed up with Jeff Daniels, Carrey starred in Dumb and Dumber, a film that had him looking, as well as acting, like Jerry Lewis. It was on that set that he met his second, and now ex-wife, Lauren Holly.

A year later in 1995, Carrey grabbed the best reviews for his role as the Riddler in Batman Forever, then made a bankable sequel Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.

Jim Carrey then shocked the industry by landing a $20 million payday for The Cable Guy. This darker comedy didn’t do as well as expected at the box office and many said it was because Carrey had veered away from his tried and true physical shtick.

Liar, Liar came next and was a winner with the audiences. Though Jim did a lot of the usual rubber-faced pranks, his role as a father also had a tinge of warmth to it not previously seen in his work. The film set the table for his Golden Globe winning performance in The Truman Show which took Carrey’s acting to a new level.

On December 20th, 1999, Jim was nominated for the 57th Annual Golden Globe Awards for his portrayal of Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon. He won the award on January 23rd.

He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in Dr. Suess’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas. That same year he also starred in the comedy Me, Myself & Irene opposite Renée Zellweger.

After he starred in the poorly-received The Majestic in 2001, Jim took some time off. The rest seemed to do him good, very good, as his next film, Bruce Almighty (with Jennifer Aniston and Morgan Freeman) was a huge smash hit.

He took a more dramatic turn in 2004’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and ended off the year playing Count Olaf in the big-screen adaptation of the popular children’s book, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.

In 2005, Jim appeared with Téa Leoni in a remake of the 1977 film Fun with Dick and Jane. Though his 2007 flick Number 23 disappeared pretty quickly, he had a family hit with the animated Horton Hears a Who! in 2008. That same year, he also worked with Bradley Copper and Zooey Deschanel on Yes Man.

In 2009, Carrey worked with Ewan McGregor on I Love You Phillip Morris and then voiced Ebeneezer Scrooge in the computer animated A Christmas Carol. He popped up again two years later in Mr. Popper’s Penguins with Carla Gugino and Angela Lansbury.

After another two year break, Jim worked with Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi on The Incredible Burt Wonderstone and with Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Chloë Grace Moretz on Kick-Ass 2. He caused a bit of a controversy with the last film, when he refused to do publicity for it, saying he could no longer support the level of violence in it.

In 2014, he made many fans happy when he reunited with Jeff Daniels for Dumb and Dumber To.

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