Jim Carey - The rise of a star
As you’ll read here on this site, Jim Carey is a Canadian/American comedian and actor of movies. He is best known for his performances in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Dumb and Dumber, The Mask and Liar Liar. He was also successful in more serious roles in the films The Truman Show, Man on the Moon, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Jim Carey was born in Newmarket, Ontario in 1962. He was a comedian from a young age and when he was just ten years old, he mailed his resume to The Carol Burnett Show. At the end of his days in school, his teacher’s would give him a few minutes to do some stand-up comedy for his classmates which they loved.
Jim Carey dropped out and left high school back when he was sixteen years old and started working in comedy clubs. When he was 17, he moved to Los Angeles where he was almost immediately noticed by legendary comedian, Rodney Dangerfield. He liked him so much that he signed him to open up his performances. This eventually turned his main focus to film entertainment. His first role on TV was on NBC in a show called The Duck Factory. This comedy only aired for a few short months. However, Jim Carey continued performing in small character roles which eventually led him to want to search for more. He met Damon Wayans and formed a friendship. They co-starred in the film Earth Girls are Easy in 1989. After this film, Jim Carey was hired as a cast member for In Living Color, which was a comedy show put together by Keenen Wayans, Damon’s brother. His performances on this show really caught America’s and Hollywood’s attention.
He made his debut in film in 1982 in the movie Rubberface. Jim Carey didn’t experience success in film though until almost a decade later when he was cast in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. In 1995, he received a couple of million dollar paychecks for roles as the Riddler in Batman Forever and a sequel to first big film, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.
Jim Carey really rose to the top and made it to the big time when it became known that he made twenty million dollars for his next film, The Cable Guy. This was an all-time high for the actor. In 1999, he starred as Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon and in 2000, he played a state trooper with multiple personalities in Me, Myself and Irene. In 2003, Jim Carey was a part of the financially successful film Bruce Almighty which became the second highest grossing live-action film.