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Arguably the top screen
comedian of the 1990s, Canadian-born entertainer Jim
Carrey has combined equal parts of his idol Jerry
Lewis, his spiritual ancestor Harry Ritz, and the
loose-limbed Ray Bolger into a gleefully uninhibited
screen image that is uniquely his own. |
Carrey's life
wasn't always a barrel of laughs; he was born on January
17, 1962, into a peripatetic household that regularly
ran the gamut from middle-class comfort to abject
poverty. Not surprisingly, Carrey became a classic
overachiever, excelling in academics while keeping his
classmates in stitches with his wild improvisations and
elastic facial expressions. His comedy club debut at age
16 was a dismal failure, but Carrey had already resolved
not to be beaten down by life's disappointments (as his
father, a frustrated musician, had been). By age 22, he
was making a good living as a standup comic, and was
starring on the short-lived sitcom The Duck Factory -- a
series which curiously did little to take advantage of
its star's uncanny physical dexterity.
Throughout the 1980s, Carrey appeared in supporting
roles in such films as Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) and
Earth Girls are Easy (1990). Full television stardom
came Carrey's way in 1990 as the resident "white guy" on
Keenan Ivory Wayans' Fox TV comedy In Living Color. The
most popular of the comedian's many characterizations on
the program was the grotesquely disfigured Fire Marshal
Bill, whose dubious safety tips brought down the wrath
of real-life fire prevention groups -- and also earned
Carrey the ultimate accolade of being imitated by other
comics. 1994 proved to be "The Year of Carrey," with the
release of three top-grossing comedy films to his
credit: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb
and Dumber. By the end of the year, Carrey was
commanding seven to ten million dollars per picture. In
1995, the actor/comedian took over for Robin Williams as
The Riddler in the blockbuster film Batman Forever, and,
in 1996, he tried his hand at a darker and more menacing
role as a maniacal cable repairman in The Cable Guy. The
film, and Carrey's at-times frightening performance,
received decidedly mixed reviews from critics and
audiences. Despite the generally negative response to
the film, Carrey still retained an interest in branching
out into more dramatic roles.
Following a return to all-out comedy in Liar, Liar
(1997) as a chronically dishonest attorney, Carrey
explored new territory with his lead role in the highly
acclaimed The Truman Show (1998), Peter Weir's eerie
comedy drama about the perils of all-consuming media
manipulation. Critical respect in hand, Carrey returned
to comedy of a different sort with the lead role in
Milos Forman's Man on the Moon (1999), a
much-anticipated biopic of the legendary comic Andy
Kaufman. Although the film boasted a powerhouse
performance from Carrey, it earned less than stellar
reviews and did poor business at the box office. Such
was the strength of the actor's portrayal, however, that
his exclusion from the Best Actor nominations at that
year's Academy Awards was a source of protest for a
number of industry members. Carrey returned to straight
comedy the following year with the Farrelly brothers'
Me, Myself & Irene, in which he starred as a cop with a
split personality, both of whom are in love with the
same woman (Renιe Zellweger). Though that film fared the
least successful of the Farrellys' efforts to that
point, Carrey's anarchic persona was given seemingly
free range and the result was his most unhinged role
since The Mask. That same year, he assumed the lead role
in Ron Howard's Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole
Christmas, raking in the money at the box-office and
receiving a Golden Globe nomination despite widespread
critical-contempt for the film. Continuing to seek
acceptance as a skilled dramatist, Carrey next appeared
in the 2001 box-office bomb The Majestic.
Undeterred by the failure of The Majestic, Carrey
returned again to both comedy and box-office success
with 2003's Bruce Almighty. After handily proving that
his power as a big-screen star was very much intact,
Carrey wasted no time switching gears once again as he
embarked on his most ambitious project to date, the 2004
mind-bending romantic-dramedy Eternal Sunshine of the
Spotless Mind. Scripted by Charlie Kaufman and directed
by Michel Gondry, the film garnered rave reviews and
featured what was arguably Carrey's most subtly complex
and subdued performance to date.
Later in 2004, Carrey could also be seen alongside Meryl
Streep and Jude Law in the much-anticipated adaptation
of the children's book Lemony Snicket's A Series of
Unfortunate Events.
Filmography
Over the Hedge
(2006)
Fun with Dick and Jane (2005)
The Mask (2005)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)
Bruce Almighty (2003)
The Majestic (2001)
Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Me, Myself & Irene (2000)
Man on the Moon (1999)
Simon Birch (1998)
The Truman Show (1998)
Liar Liar (1997)
The Cable Guy (1996)
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995)
Batman Forever (1995)
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
Dumb and Dumber (1994)
The Mask (1994)
Doing Time on Maple Drive (1992)
High Strung (1991)
Earth Girls Are Easy (1989)
Pink Cadillac (1989)
The Dead Pool (1988)
Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
Once Bitten (1985)
Finders Keepers (1984)
Club Med (1983)
Copper Mountain (1983)
Rubberface (1981)
Producer
Fun with Dick and Jane (2005)
Bruce Almighty (2003)
Screenwriter
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
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