Jim Carrey Biography

Actor, comedian. Born James Eugene Carrey, on January 17, 1962, in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. Carrey got his start with a spot doing stand-up at a Toronto comedy clubwhen he was just 15 years old. By 1979, he had left the factory janitorjob he had taken in 1978 to help support his family and was making hisliving as opening act for successful comics Buddy Hackett and RodneyDangerfield.

At 19, Carrey headed west to Hollywood where, in 1983,he started with a made-for-television movie called Introducing...Janet.Carrey's appearances on television's The Duck Factory; and Jim Carrey'sUnnatural Act (1991) led to a regular role on the hit comedy In LivingColor.

Carrey's big screen debut came with 1984's Finders Keepers, but he didn't have a big success until 1994's Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. From there, Carrey's expressive face, expert mimicry skills, and physical brandof comedy kept the hits coming. He followed with The Mask (1994), Dumb andDumber (1994), Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), Batman Forever (1995),The CableGuy(1996), and Liar Liar (1997).

Carrey took a successful dramatic turn as Truman Burbank in Peter Weir's The Truman Show (1998), for which he won a Golden Globe award for Best Actor. He teamed up with legendary director Milos Forman for the Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon (1999), co-starring Courtney Love; for his dead-on portrayal of Kaufman, Carrey took home a second straight Golden Globe. Despite his Golden Globe success, Carrey has never been nominated for an Academy Award, perhaps due to the Academy's traditional lack of recognition for comedic actors. Carrey has become one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, with an reported asking price of $20 million.

In the summer of 2000, Carrey portrayed a character with two dueling personalities (both in love with the same woman) in the comedy Me, Myself and Irene. That fall, wearing pounds of green fur and makeup, he starred as the titular curmudgeon in the long-awaited big budget film version of Dr. Seuss' holiday classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, directed by Ron Howard. In 2003, the actor starred as a man endowed with God-like powers in Bruce Almighty with Jennifer Aniston. The following year, Carrey starred opposite Kate Winslet in Charlie Kaufman's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Upcoming projects include two remakes: Steven Spielberg's version of the 1947 comedy The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and the 1977 flick Fun with Dick and Jane.

Carrey has a daughter, Jane, from his marriage to Melissa Womer (from 1987 to 1995). He was married briefly to Dumb & Dumber co-star Lauren Holly. His yearlong romance with his Me, Myself and Irene leading lady, Renee Zellweger, ended in December 2000.

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