Jim Carrey Biography

A rubber-faced comedian in the Jerry Lewis mold, Jim Carrey has also had Lewis-sized successes in his career. His work on the TV sketch comedy show In Living Color (1990-94) made his name, and his starring role in the surprise hit Ace Ventura, Pet Detective (1994) made him a star. Jim Carrey’s crowd-pleasing style mixed juvenile slapstick with manic improvisation; by the late 1990’s he became one of Hollywood’s most popular and highest-paid stars. Later films included Dumb and Dumber (1994), The Cable Guy (1996, with Matthew Broderick), and The Truman Show (1998, with Ed Harris). He played comedian Andy Kaufman in the 1999 movie Man In the Moon, and in 2000 wore green makeup for a film based on the Dr. Seuss classic How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

Although known primarily for comedies such as Bruce Almighty (2003, co-starring Morgan Freeman) and Yes Man (2008), Carrey has also turned in dramatic performances in films such as The Majestic (2001), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, with Kate Winslet) and The Number 23 (2007). He also voiced Scrooge in a 2009 semi-animated version of the Charles Dickens tale A Christmas Carol, and in 2013 starred with Steve Carell in the duelling-magicians comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.