Born in Newmarket, Ontario, Jim Carrey knew by age 3 that show business was in his blood. At age 15, he took off for Toronto to perform at Yuk Yuks, the famous comedy club. Following that performance, his career took off. For the next few years, he worked in comedy clubs all over Canada. At age 19, he packed his belongings and moved to Los Angeles.
There, he immediately became a regular at Mitzi Shore's Comedy Store, attracting the attention of top comic Rodney Dangerfield, who was so impressed with the young man that he invited him on tour. Mr. Carrey was subsequently cast in the lead role of the NBC series The Duck Factory. The series lasted only 13 weeks, but film work soon followed, beginning with a starring role in Howard Storm's Once Bitten (opposite Lauren Hutton).
His early film roles also included Francis Ford Coppola's Peggy Sue Got Married (with Kathleen Turner and Nicolas Cage), Julien Temple's Earth Girls Are Easy (with Geena Davis, Jeff Goldblum, and Damon Wayans), and Buddy Van Horn's The Dead Pool (with Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry).
In early 1990, Mr. Carrey joined the ensemble cast of the groundbreaking Fox Network comedy hit show In Living Color. In November 1991, his first Showtime special (Jim Carrey's Unnatural Act, directed by Michael French) premiered to rave reviews. He followed the special's success with an acclaimed performance as an alcoholic in Fox's Emmy Award-nominated Doing Time on Maple Drive (directed by Ken Olin).
After several successful seasons on In Living Color, he once again branched out into feature films with the starring role in Tom Shadyac's 1994 hit Ace Ventura, Pet Detective. His performance made him an instant screen sensation, and he starred in two more smash hits that same year: Charles Russell's The Mask (opposite Cameron Diaz, and for which he earned a Golden Globe Award nomination) and Peter and Bobby Farrelly's Dumb and Dumber (opposite Jeff Daniels).
Mr. Carrey next starred as The Riddler in Joel Schumacher's 1995 blockbuster Batman Forever before reprising his lead role in Steve Oedekerk's Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. The following year he starred in Ben Stiller's comedy The Cable Guy. His subsequent reteaming with Tom Shadyac on the 1997 comedy Liar Liar (for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination) was the first of several blockbuster hits for Universal Pictures. He was honored with the NATO/ShoWest Comedy Star of the Year Award that same year.
Subsequently, Peter Weir's 1998 film The Truman Show earned Mr. Carrey a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor (Drama). He won a second Golden Globe Award, for Best Actor (Musical/Comedy), the following year for his portrayal of legendary comedian Andy Kaufman in Milos Forman's Man on the Moon, for Universal Pictures.
Mr. Carrey next reunited with Peter and Bobby Farrelly in the summer of 2000 for Me, Myself & Irene, which earned him an MTV Movie Award nomination for Best Comedic Performance. That same year he was named Male Star of the Year by NATO/ShoWest, and starred in the year's top-grossing film, Ron Howard's Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, for which he won the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain. The Universal Pictures release also brought him a People's Choice Award and a fifth Golden Globe Award nomination.
In 2001, he starred in Frank Darabont's The Majestic and, in the summer of 2003, he reteamed with director Tom Shadyac, screenwriter Steve Oedekerk, and Universal Pictures, for the blockbuster hit comedy Bruce Almighty, which is his highest-grossing film (worldwide) to date.
Mr. Carrey was filming the role of the dastardly Count Olaf in the highly anticipated film version of Daniel Handler's Lemony Snicket's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events,' directed by Brad Silberling. He was also recording the voice of one of the lead characters in Tim Johnson's animated feature Over the Hedge.
His another film project was a reteaming with Cameron Diaz on Dean Parisot's Fun with Dick and Jane. Following that, Mr. Carrey begins work on Todd Phillips' The Six Million Dollar Man, based on the popular 1970s TV show.
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