Rubber-faced Jim Carrey became the best-known and best-paid Hollywood comedian during the 1990s. Specializing in physical comedy, he appears to be a worthy successor to Jerry Lewis, though he also starred in dramatic films such as Peter Weir’s The Truman Show (1998).
Jim Carrey was born in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, on January 17, 1962, and attended local schools, where he was known as a class clown with a penchant for doing impressions of famous people. He left school in 10th grade and flopped at Yuk-Yuk’s, a local comedy club, where he performed his first stand-up comedy. Two years later, however, at age 16, he was a hit at Yuk-Yuk’s and was spotted by manager Wayne Flemming, who got him a stint at Tickles, another comedy club.
An appearance on a Canadian talk show followed and led to a role in a made-for-television Canadian film entitled Introducing Janet. This was followed by another Canadian film, Rubberface (1981), which featured Jim Carrey in what was surely an “autobiographical” part as a comedian with more determination than talent.
Rodney Dangerfield, who worked with Jim Carrey, was responsible for bringing him to the United States, where he appeared at the Comedy Store. In 1983 Jim Carrey played himself as a goofy comedian at a ski resort in Club Med (1983), and in 1984 he was cast in the forgettable Finders Keepers. He next appeared in Once Bitten (1985), a teenage vampire film, and in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), a popular comedy featuring Nicolas Cage and Kathleen Turner. In 1989 he appeared in Earth Girls Are Easy and Pink Cadillac, and in 1991 he was a “voice” in High Strung.
Jim Carrey made his mark on television as the only white man on In Living Color, an ensemble comedy show. His popularity there led to his casting in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1993), his breakthrough film. Jim Carrey’s performance in the title role earned him the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards for Best Newcomer and Best Comedy Actor. The huge box-office success of this juvenile, lowbrow comedy led to a sequel, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), which won Jim Carrey an MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance and Best Comedic Performance. Film critics trashed both Ventura movies despite their box-office success.
Jim Carrey followed with a string of high-profile roles and hit movies. The Mask (1994) used outrageous special effects to enhance Jim Carrey’s comic talents, and the same year, he starred in Dumb and Dumber, in which he and Jeff Daniels play demented dummies on a road trip. Both features relied on scatological and physical humor and were box-office hits. Playing the villainous Riddler in Batman Forever (1995), Jim Carrey won the Best Villain Award from Blockbuster, before taking home the MTV Best Comedic Performance Award for his less frenetic turn as a lawyer required to tell the truth for 24 hours in Liar, Liar (1996). For his next film, The Cable Guy (1996), Jim Carrey was paid $20 million. The film was darker than most of his others and was therefore a disappointment to his fans, but Carey still won the MTV Award for Best Villain for the part.
The comedian took a pay cut in order to get his next role, that of Truman Burbank in The Truman Show (1998), directed by Peter Weir. In this film Truman discovers that his whole life is a facade that is being televised unbeknownst to him and is the most popular show on television. He attempts to escape from the huge set that is his universe. The film, an allegorical commentary on “reality” TV, won a Golden Globe Award, as did both Jim Carrey and costar Ed Harris. Peter Weir won a British Academy Award and also earned an Oscar nomination for Best Director, though the academy chose not to acknowledge Jim Carrey’s performance.
Jim Carrey took on another serious role when he appeared as comic Andy Kaufman in the 1999 biopic Man in the Moon. The film, which grossed $34 million, earned Jim Carrey a second Golden Globe but once again, no nod from the Oscars. Jim Carrey rebounded at the box office in 2000, appearing in the Farrelly brothers’ Me, Myself, & Irene, which made $83 million, and the holiday film How the Grinch Stole Christmas. In 2001 Jim Carrey starred in The Majestic, a failed attempt at nostalgia and a cold war allegory, but his biggest hit to date came in 2003, when he got a chance to play God in Bruce Almighty, a film that grossed $368 million worldwide.
Jim Carrey has demonstrated that he’s a popular comedian who has the potential to perform serious roles. Whether or not he will ultimately succeed in crossing over, as comedians like Billy Crystal and Robin Williams have before him, remains to be seen.
Our website is not responsible for the information contained by this article. Articleinput.com is a free articles resource thus practically any visitor can submit an article. However if you notice any copyrighted material, please contact us and we will remove the article(s) in discussion right away.
Note: This article was sent to us by: Nathaniel G. Kinsley at 04182010
1. Julie Andrews and the success of Hollywood musicals
All articles are property of their respective authors. Please read our Privacy Policy!
© 2009 ArticleInput.com.