Jim Carrey

James Eugene "Jim" Carrey (born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian American actor, comedian, and producer. Carrey has received four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning two. Known for his highly energetic slapstick performances, he has been described as one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood.

Carrey first gained recognition in 1990 after landing a recurring role in the sketch comedyIn Living Color. His first leading roles in major productions came with Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), Dumb and Dumber (1994), The Mask (1994), and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995). In 1997, he gave a critically acclaimed performance in Liar Liar, which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor. He then starred in the critically acclaimed hits The Truman Show (1998) and Man on the Moon (1999), with each garnering him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.

In 2000, he gained further recognition for his portrayal of the The Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Three years later, Carrey starred in the major blockbuster film Bruce Almighty (2003). The following year he starred in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind(2004), for which he received another Golden Globe nomination in addition to a BAFTA Award nomination. He then starred in popular productions Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), Fun with Dick and Jane (2005), Yes Man (2008) and A Christmas Carol (2009). More recently, he has starred in Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011) and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013).

He is set to star in Kick-Ass 2 as Colonel Stars and Stripes in late 2013. Carrey is also in talks to reprise his role of Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber To, with filming scheduled to start in 2014.

Early life

James Eugene Carrey was born in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada,the son of Kathleen (née Oram), a homemaker, and Percy Carrey (1927-1994), a musician and accountant.^[5][6] He has three older siblings, John, Patricia, and Rita. He was raised Roman Catholic.His mother was of French, Irish, and Scottish descent and his father was of French Canadian ancestry (the family's original surname was Carré).

During an interview with James Lipton at The Actor's studio, Jim stated "My father was a musician who got a 'regular job' to support his children. When he lost his job that's when everything fell apart. We went from 'lower middle class' to 'poor'. We were living out of a van. I quit school at age 15 to begin working to help support my family as a janitor. I'd have a baseball bat on my janitor cart because I was so angry I just wanted to beat the heck out of something." After his family moved to Scarborough, Ontario, he attended Blessed Trinity Catholic School, in North York, for two years, enrolled at Agincourt Collegiate Institute for another year, then briefly attendedNorthview Heights Secondary School. Jim never finished high school because he worked full-time to help his family survive the severe economic hardship, and also helped care for his mother who battled a severe, chronic illness.

Carrey lived in Burlington, Ontario, for eight years, and attended Aldershot High School, where he once opened for 1980s new waveband Spoons. In a Hamilton Spectator interview (February 2007), Carrey remarked, "If my career in show business hadn't panned out I would probably be working today in Hamilton, Ontario at the Dofasco steel mill." When looking across the Burlington Bay toward Hamilton, he could see the mills and thought, "Those were where the great jobs were." At this point, he already had experience working in a science testing facility in Richmond Hill, Ontario.