Jim Carrey began his professional career as a stand-up comedian and found success on television before breaking into motion pictures. The actor's unique combination of improvisation, mimicry and innovation with an outrageous style of physical comedy has captured the attention of film audiences throughout the world.
      The six foot two comedian has created some of the most popular and entertaining characters in modern film history, and his films "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective", "The Mask", based on the Dark Horse comic book series of the same name, "Dumb and Dumber" and "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls" have all conquered the global box office, with all four films exceeding the $100 million mark in domestic grosses alone. With the 1996 release of The Cable Guy, Carrey's worldwide boxoffice exceeded the $l billion mark.
      Carrey began performing in Toronto comedy clubs at age 15. During this time things became difficult when his father lost his job and the family found themselves working as janitors in order to survive. Somewhat disallusioned with life but determined to retain his sense of humor and more importantly to succeed, Jim dropped out of high school at sixteen in order to pursue a career in entertainment. At one time he even wrote himself a post-dated check for 10 million dollars. He was that sure he was going to succeed.
      He moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and soon became a regular performer at the famed Comedy Store. The following year, he won a starring role on the NBC-TV series "Duck Factory" and moved into film work with his first starring role opposite Lauren Hutton in the vampire comedy "Once Bitten". He then went on to star in Francis Ford Coppola's "Peggy Sue Got Married", followed by "Earth Girls Are Easy" with Geena Davis. It was during this slow, but upward climb toward super stardom that Carrey met Melissa Womer whom he married in 1987 and had daughter Jane with. The marriage lasted until 1995.
      Jim's first Showtime Special, titled "Jim Carrey's Unnatural Act", premiered in 1991 to rave reviews and caught the eye of many industry giants. It was his range of abilities and creation of many regular characters which helped to make him a favorite performer on the Fox Network's ensemble comedy hit "In Living Color". That weekly showcase of his inimitable comic talents led to his no-holds-barred portrayal of "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective", the early 1994 release that made him an instant sensation.
      After the success of "Dumb and Dumber" in 1995, Carrey was voted NATO/ShoWest comedy Star of the Year, and "Dumb and Dumber" was voted Favorite Film by The People's Choice Awards. For that role, Carrey was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actor in a Comedy Motion Picture, an honor he also won that same year for "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls". For his role in the latter film, Carrey had the distinction of being honored with four MTV Movie Award nominations, winning in the "Best Male Performance" and "Best Comedic Performance" categories. He also adds the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards to this list of accomplishments.
      In 1997 Jim was ranked #54 in Empire magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time", and chosen by "People" magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World.
Photo © Dan Winters - Bio by ThespianNet.com © 2000