Canadian-American actor and comedian Jim Carrey was born on January 17, 1962 in Newmarket, Ontario. He enrolled at Agincourt Collegiate Institute and attended Aldershot High School. He began doing stand-up comedy in 1979, at a comedy club known as Yuk Yuk. He rose to become a headliner in 1981 when he was just 19. He then moved to Los Angeles and began working at The Comedy Store, eventually being signed to open comedian Rodney Dangerfield’s tour performances.
In 1980-1981, Jim Carrey decided to audition as a cast member of Saturday Night Live. He didn’t make it, but was soon signed as the character Skip Tarkenton, the lead role in the short-lived NBC series The Duck Factory. He had several small film and television roles, and co-starred with fellow comedian Damon Wayans in 1989’s Earth Girls are Easy. He was then cast in the sketch comedy show In Living Color from 1990 to 1994.
Carrey’s film career began when he appeared in a minor role in Rubberface, and he later won the lead role in 1983’s Copper Mountain. Though this was not considered a genuine feature film, Jim Carrey was given the starring role in his next film, the dark comedy Once Bitten. His stardom came upon taking on the title role in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, a role he reprised in the 1995 sequel Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. He also starred as Stanley Ipkiss in The Mask, and with Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber. Jim Carrey was also cast as the Riddler in Batman Forever, another successful box office film. He was also given the lead in the Ben Stiller-directed The Cable Guy, but gained more fame when he appeared in 1997’s Liar Liar. He had a more serious role in The Truman Show, which led to several Academy Award nominations. For his performance in the film, he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama, as well as an MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance. He was also critically acclaimed for his portrayal of comedian Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon in 1999. He earned more popularity with his 2003 hit Bruce Almighty, and was praised by critics for his portrayal of Joel Barish in The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in 2004. He is also known as the villainous Count Olaf in the adaptation of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. In 2007, he was cast in the psychological thriller The Number 23. He has also lent his voice to the elephant Horton in the animated Horton Hears a Who! In 2008.