Jim Carrey was born in Newmarket, to Kathleen (née Oram), a homemaker, and Percy Carrey, a musician and accountant. He has three older siblings, John, Patricia, and Rita. The family was Catholic and of part French Canadian ancestry.
Jim Carrey’s life is an extended performance, punctuated only by a phase of poverty in his early life, when the complete Carrey family had to work in security and janitorial jobs in the Titan Wheels factory, Jim worked 8-hour shifts after school finished. Though his grades suffered, his morale let-down was only temporary. When they finally left the factory, the family lived out of a Volkswagen camper van until they could return to Toronto.
Once in Toronto, Carrey decided to strike out into the club comedy scene. He made his (reportedly awful) professional stand-up debut at Yuk-Yuk`s, one of the many local clubs that would serve as his training ground for the years to come. He dropped out of high school and worked on his celebrity impersonations. By 1979 he was in Los Angeles honing up his way into a regular gig at The Comedy Store, where he impressed Rodney Dangerfield so much that the veteran comic artist signed him as an opening act for an entire season.
He managed the male lead in the trashed Lauren Hutton project ‘Once Bitten’ (1985), and a supporting role in ‘Peggy Sue Got Married’ (1986), before modestly being noticed as the alien Wiploc in ‘Earth Girls Are Easy’ (1988). Impressed with Carrey`s lunacy, fellow extraterrestrial Damon Wayans made a call, and Carey joined the sketch comedy show ‘In Living Color’ (1990), quickly making a name for himself with outrageous acts (one of his most popular characters, psychotic Fire Marshall Bill, was attacked by watchdog groups for dispensing ill- advised safety tips!)
Carrey`s transformation from TV goofball to marquee headliner happened within the course of a single year. He opened 1994 with a starring turn in ‘Ace Ventura: Pet Detective’ (1994), a film that cashed in on his extremely physical brand of humor (the character`s trademark was talking out his derrière). Next up was the manic superhero movie ‘The Mask’ (1994) (it also debuted Cameron Diaz as a striking, physical and mental blonde).
Then, of course, ‘Dumb and Dumber’ happened.
Since then a box-office staple, Carrey brought his manic antics onto the set of ‘Batman Forever’ (1995. Having got his fill of blockbuster performances, Carrey traded the silly grins to star in Peter Weir`s ‘The Truman Show’ (1998). Carrey’s uncharacteristic sincerity in the show took moviegoers by surprise. He won a Golden Globe for the performance. An Oscar was highly anticipated all around, but when it didn`t materialize, Carrey lashed out at Academy members for their narrow-minded selection process.
Since then, Carrey has thrown people off guard with his liquid humour every-time they watch him in a newer version of his brand of humour.