Jim Carrey Biography
James Eugene Carrey, otherwise known as Jim Carrey rose to prominence and wealth as an actor in the early 90’s with roles in films like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and The Mask, this was despite being a long-standing entertainment personality from 1979. The part comedian and actor was born in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada on January 17 1962 to parents Percy Carrey and Kathleen Oram.
Carrey’s first contact with show business was through his father who in addition to having an interest in singing he maintained a side job as a singer in local joints. Carrey was schooled at the Blessed Trinity Catholic School in North York, the Agincourt Collegiate Institute, the Northview Heights Secondary School and finally he studied at the Aldershot High School. He was never one for education and throughout his academic life his teachers were forced to leave him behind as the rest of the class was promoted to another level at the end of the year. Carrey’s movement from one school to another was attributed to his poor grades and also to the fact that his father’s career in music meant that the family would accompany him on his tours.
After school Carrey had to take employment at a local steel mill and when he was not working or at school he would be found at neighbourhood pubs performing to eager audiences alongside his equally talented friends. Carrey’s sense of humour was loved by his peers and on advice from his family he begun to appear regularly on a small stand-up show of his own, it was during one of these performances that a talent scout saw him and there begun Carrey’s ascent to the top as a professional comedian.
In 1981 Carrey got a permanent gig at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles, this was soon followed by a move into television and Carrey appeared in uncredited shows like The Duck Factory, Earth Girls Are Easy and Living Color. A career rise seemed impossible at the time and even his comedy show became a flop, this trend continued until the 80’s decade was over.
Carrey made a comeback in 1991 with his first major role in film in High Strung , with moderate success Carrey went on to take roles in Doing Time on Maple Drive, Space Ghost Coast to Coast and The Itsy Bitsy Spider. In 1994 Carrey was thrown to stardom among big league actors after an exceptional performance on Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, the film was so well received in the box office that producers went back to work returning with a continuation in 1995 titled Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Carrey reprised his role in the film. For the act he was honoured with a Favorite Actor award at the 1994 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards.
Other film roles by Carrey in the 90’s include The Cable Guy, Liar Liar, The Truman Show, Man on the Moon, Dumb and Dumber, The Mask and Batman Forever.
With the coming of the 2000’s Carrey’s success was ensured by more film roles including How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Bruce Almighty, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Yes Man and Fun with Dick and Jane.
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