Jim Carrey

James Eugene Carrey (born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian-American actor and comedian known for his energetic slapstick performances.

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.

Radio Times states, "You'll see why immediately: Palin's performance is uncannily Carreyesque."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

Decades later, recalling Carrey's stand-up debut, Yuk Yuk's owner Mark Breslin described it as "bad Rich Little".

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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).

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).

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.

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."

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.

Decades later, after establishing himself as a Hollywood film star, Carrey would host the show in May 1996, January 2011, and October 2014.

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).

He also starred as Jeff Piccirillo in the Showtime tragicomedy series Kidding (2018–2020), for which he received his seventh Golden Globe nomination.

Carrey was born in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, to Kathleen (née Oram), a homemaker, and Percy Carrey, a musician and accountant.

He was raised Catholic and has three older siblings, John, Patricia, and Rita.

His mother was of French, Irish, and Scottish descent, and his father was of French-Canadian ancestry; the family's original surname was Carré''.

At age eight, he began making faces before a mirror and discovered a talent for doing impressions.

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.