Actor and Comedian James Eugene “Jim” Carrey was born in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada on January 17, 1962. Carrey lived in Burlington, Ontario, for eight years, and attended Aldershot High School. Carrey’s family supported him as his father drove the young comedian all the way to Toronto to debut at comedy club Yuk Yuk’s. Due to the financial problem it was difficult to support Carrey’s career, this gave him doubts about his capabilities as a professional entertainer.

Eventually, the family’s financial problems were resolved and they moved into a new home. In a short period of time, he went from open-mic nights to regular paid shows, building his reputation in the process. Carrey was soon noticed by comedian Rodney Dangerfield with signing the young comic to his tour performances he was eventually brought to Las Vegas.

Carrey soon decided to move to Hollywood, where he began performing at The Comedy Store and, in 1982, appeared on the televised stand-up show An Evening at the Improv. The following year, he debuted his act on The Tonight Show. Carrey auditioned to be a cast member for the 1980–1981 season of NBC’s Saturday Night Live, although he was not selected he later hosted the show in May 1996, January 2011, and October 2014. Carrey was a regular cast member of the ensemble comedy television series In Living Color from 1990 to 1994.

Following year 1994 Carrey was cast in the lead roles in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask and Dumb and Dumber. Dumb and Dumber was a commercial success, grossing over $270 million worldwide. He received his first Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor for his work in The Mask. In 1995, Carrey co-starred in the Joel Schumacher-directed superhero film Batman Forever. In that same year, Carrey reprised his role as Ace Ventura in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.

The next film The Cable Guy (1996) was huge success grossing $102 million worldwide. For the movie Liar Liar (1997) Carrey was praised for his performance, earning a second Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor.

Carrey decided to take a pay cut to play the serious role of Truman Burbank in the satirical comedy-drama film The Truman Show (1998). The film was highly praised and brought Carrey further international acclaim Eventually, he did pick up his first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama.

In 1999, Carrey had the lead role in Man on the Moon. He portrayed comedian Andy Kaufman. Carrey received his second Golden Globe followed by his first Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Actor.

In 2000, Carrey reteamed with the Farrelly brothers, who had previously directed him in Dumb and Dumber, for the black comedy film Me, Myself & Irene. That same year, Carrey starred in the second highest-grossing Christmas film of all time, How the Grinch Stole Christmas for which he was nominated for Golden Globe.

For his next feature film, Carrey starred opposite Jennifer Aniston and Morgan Freeman in Tom Shadyac’s international hit comedy Bruce Almighty (2003). Despite all mixed reviews upon release, still became a financial success, earning over $484 million worldwide, and going on to become the seventeenth highest-grossing live action comedy of all time.

In 2004, Carrey starred in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind  According to CNN’s reviewer Paul Clinton, Carrey’s performance was the actor’s “best, most mature and sharply focused performance ever.” Carrey received another Golden Globe nomination and his first BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actor.

Carrey’s next appearance was in the 2004 black comedy fantasy film Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. That same year, Carrey was inducted into the Canadian Walk of Fame. 

In 2007, Carrey reunited with Joel Schumacher, director of Batman Forever, for The Number 23. In the film, Carrey plays a man who becomes obsessed with the number 23, after finding a book about a man with the same obsession. The film was severely criticized. he following year Carrey provided his voice for Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! (2008). Later that same year, Carrey returned to live-action comedy, starring opposite Zooey Deschanel and Bradley Cooper in Yes Man (2008).  The film had a decent performance at the box office, earning $225 million worldwide.

In 2009, Carrey starred a leading role in Glenn Ficarra and John Requa’s I Love You Phillip Morris. The film received largely positive reviews. For the first time in his career, Carrey portrayed multiple characters in Disney’s 3D animated take on the classic Charles Dickens tale, A Christmas Carol (2009).

In 2011, Carrey landed the lead role in Mr. Popper’s Penguins. In 2013, he starred alongside former co-star Steve Carell in the Don Scardino-directed comedy film The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.

Carrey has been married twice. His first marriage was to former actress and Comedy Store waitress Melissa Womer, whom he married on March 28, 1987. A year later Carrey married his Dumb and Dumber co-star Lauren Holly, on September 23, 1996; the marriage lasted less than a year. Carrey met model and actress Jenny McCarthy in 2005 whereas in April 2010, the two ended their near five-year relationship. On September 28, 2015, Carrey’s former girlfriend, Cathriona White, a native of County Tipperary, Ireland,  was found dead from a prescription drug overdose. The couple first met in 2012.