The youngest of four children born to Percy (an accountant and aspiring jazz saxophonist) and Kathleen, Jim Carrey was an incurable extrovert from day one. As a child he performed constantly, for anyone who would watch, and even mailed his résumé to The Carol Burnett Show at age 10. In junior high he was granted a few precious minutes at the end of each school day to do stand-up routines for his classmates (provided, of course, that he kept a lid on it the rest of the day). Carrey's early adolescence took a turn for the tragic, however, when the family was forced to relocate from their cozy town of Newmarket to Scarborough (a Toronto suburb). They all took security and janitorial jobs in the Titan Wheels factory, Jim working 8-hour shifts after school let out (not surprisingly, his grades and morale both suffered). When they finally deserted the factory, the family lived out of a Volkswagen camper van until they could return to Toronto. Back on firmer ground, Carrey decided to strike out into the comedy club scene. He made his (reportedly awful) professional stand-up debut at Yuk-Yuk's, one of the many local clubs that would serve as his training ground in the years to come. He dropped out of high school, worked on his celebrity impersonations (among them Michael Landon and James Stewart), and in 1979 worked up the nerve to move to Los Angeles. He finessed his way into a regular gig at The Comedy Store, where he impressed Rodney Dangerfield so much that the veteran comic signed him as an opening act for an entire season. During this period Carrey met and married waitress Melissa Womer, with whom he had a daughter (Jane). The couple would later go through a very messy divorce, freeing Carrey up for a brief second marriage to actress Lauren Holly. Wary of falling into the lounge act lifestyle, Carrey began to look around for other performance outlets. He landed a part as a novice cartoonist in the short-lived sitcom The Duck Factory; while the show fell flat, the experience gave Carrey the confidence to pursue acting more vigorously. He scored the male lead in the ill-received Lauren Hutton vehicle Once Bitten, and a supporting role in Peggy Sue Got Married, before making a modest splash with his appearance as the alien Wiploc in Earth Girls Are Easy. Impressed with Carrey's lunacy, fellow extraterrestrial Damon Wayans made a call to his brother, Keenen Ivory Wayans, who was in the process of putting together the sketch comedy show In Living Color. Carrey joined the cast and quickly made a name for himself with outrageous acts (one of his most popular characters, psychotic Fire Marshall Bill, was attacked by watchdog groups for dispensing ill- advised safety tips). Carrey's transformation from TV goofball to marquis headliner happened within the course of a single year. He opened 1994 with a starring turn in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, a film that cashed in on his extremely physical brand of humor (the character's trademark was talking out his derrière). Next up was the manic superhero movie The Mask, which had audiences wondering just how far Carrey's features could stretch. Finally, in December, he hit theaters as a loveable dolt in the Farrelly brothers' Dumb & Dumber (his first multi-million dollar payday). Now a box-office staple, Carrey brought his manic antics onto the set of Batman Forever, replacing Robin Williams as The Riddler. He also filmed the follow-up to his breakthrough, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, and inked a deal with Sony to star in The Cable Guy (replacing Chris Farley) for a cool $20 million--at the time, that was the biggest up-front sum that had been offered to any comic actor. The movie turned out to be a disappointment, both critically and financially, but Carrey bounced back the next year with the energetic hit Liar Liar. Worried that his comic shtick would soon wear thin, Carrey decided to change course. In 1998, he traded in the megabucks and silly grins to star in Peter Weir's The Truman Show. Playing a naive salesman who discovers that his entire life is the subject of a TV show, Carrey demonstrated an uncharacteristic sincerity that took moviegoers by surprise. He won a Golden Globe for the performance, and fans anticipated an Oscar nomination as well--when it didn't materialize, Carrey lashed out at Academy members for their narrow-minded selection process. Perhaps inspired by the snub, Carrey threw himself into his next role with abandon. After edging out a handful of other hopefuls (including Edward Norton) to play eccentric funnyman Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon, Carrey disappeared into the role, living as Kaufman -- and his blustery alter-ego Tony Clifton -- for months (Carrey even owned Kaufman's bongo drums, which he'd used during his audition for director Milos Forman). His sometimes uncanny impersonation was rewarded with another Golden Globe, but once again the Academy kept quiet. An indignant Carrey next reprised his bankable mania for the Farrelly brothers in Me, Myself & Irene, playing a state trooper whose Jekyll and Hyde personalities both fall in love with the same woman (Renée Zellweger). Carrey's real-life persona wound up falling for her too--a few months after the film wrapped, the pair announced they were officially a couple. By then, Carrey had already slipped into a furry green suit to play the stingy antihero of Ron Howard's How the Grinch Stole Christmas. He plans to take a break from the limelight after the holiday flick (as he puts it, "I'm looking forward to getting out of America's face"). Is there another Carrey reinvention in the works? If so, he's not talking.


Yes Man (2008): 36.2% of gross
Bruce Almighty (2003): $25,000,000
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000): $20,000,000 + merchandising
Me, Myself & Irene (2000): $20,000,000
Man on the Moon (1999): $12,000,000
The Truman Show (1998): $12,000,000
Liar Liar (1997): $20,000,000
The Cable Guy (1996): $20,000,000
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995): $5,000,000
Batman Forever (1995): $5,000,000
Dumb & Dumber (1994): $7,000,000
The Mask (1994): $540,000
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994): $350,000
"In Living Color" (1990): $25,000/episode

Dropped out of high school at 16. Ranked #54 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997] At age 10, he sent his resume to Carol Burnett. Hosted "YTV Awards Show" in mid '80s with Laurie from "Fox After Breakfast" (1996). YTV is Canada's Youth Television station. Performed "Rocket Man" on stage with Elton John at one of John's concerts. [1998] Wrote himself a check for $20 million and kept it in his wallet until he earned that amount for The Cable Guy (1996). Manager is Jimmy Miller, who is the younger brother of actor-comedian Dennis Miller. December, 2001: Announces his intention to become a United States citizen. Although he obtained American citizenship, he still intends to keep his Canadian citizenship. As a child, he used to wear his tap shoes to bed just in case his parents needed cheering up in the middle of the night. Insisted that his favorite band, Cannibal Corpse, play in the movie Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994). Father of Jane Carrey with his first wife, Melissa Carrey. Many of his characters are ordinary men whose lives are changed by supernatural or otherwise unseen forces. As in The Mask (1994) (" (Ipkiss happens to find the mask), The Majestic (2001) (Appleton is unlucky and suffers amnesia), Liar Liar (1997) (His son's birthday wish comes true), Bruce Almighty (2003) (Divine intervention), The Truman Show (1998) (He finds his life is a TV show), and so on. There is some sort of a bathroom scene and car scene in almost every one of his movies. While filming Earth Girls Are Easy (1988), it took approximately two and a half hours for him and co-stars Jeff Goldblum and Damon Wayans to be suited up as the aliens. Has said that his least favorite movie is The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969). October 2004 - Became a U.S. citizen. Attended Agincourt Collegiate Institute (High School), in Scarborough. He donated a signed head-shot to Rocky Stone to be auctioned off to raise money to buy more toys for less fortunate kids as part of the Toy Mountain Campaign 2004. Went through depression in the 1980s while struggling to make ends meet as a comedian. Briefly attended Aldershot High School in Burlington, Ontario. He was originally cast as "Dr. Evil" in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), but he had to drop out of the role due to a scheduling conflict with Liar Liar (1997). Was considered for the role of "Willy Wonka" in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). Was originally offered the lead role in the movie The Master of Disguise (2002). Before Martin Scorsese's The Aviator (2004), he spent years trying to produce and star in a film of Howard Hughes' life as Hughes himself. Fellow Canadian comedian Mike Myers was chosen over Carrey to play in "Saturday Night Live" (1975). First actor to reach 20 million dollar mark salary (for_The Cable Guy (1996)_) in 1996. The first actress to do so was 'Julia Roberts', four years later, who was paid the same amount for her role in Erin Brockovich (2000) in 2000. Along with his girlfriend Jenny McCarthy, he was among the guests at Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes's wedding. Turned down the offer to induct Jerry Lawler into the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2007, for he believed the people in the audience would have come to the ceremony to see him, not the legends being honored that night. Is a huge fan of the cartoons "Johnny Bravo" (1997), "SpongeBob SquarePants" (1999) and "Dave the Barbarian" (2004). With the exception of his "Ace Ventura" character, Carrey has a reputation of not repeating the same character twice in a sequel (Batman & Robin (1997)) or prequel (Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003)). Is a vegetarian. Has worked with two actresses from the TV show "Friends" (1994): Courteney Cox in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), and Jennifer Aniston in Bruce Almighty (2003). Jack Nicholson has called him the "Jack Nicholson of the next generation". Was considered for the role of Ted Stroehmann in There's Something About Mary (1998). The characters played by him in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), The Mask (1994) and Dumb & Dumber (1994) later all became TV cartoons, whereas his "Grinch", "Horton" and "Riddler" characters were already cartoons. Spoofed the Players' Club TV commercials, made famous by Telly Savalas in the 1980s, on "In Living Color" (1990). Lives in Los Angeles and Malibu, California. Is grandfather to daughter Jane Carrey's son Jackson Riley Santana, born February 26th, 2010. Father of the boy is Jane's husband Alex 'Nitro' Santana, singer of the band "Blood Money".