Carrey was born in the Toronto suburb of Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, to Kathleen (née Oram), a homemaker, and Percy Carrey, a musician and accountant.
He was raised a Roman Catholic and has three older siblings, John, Patricia, and Rita.His mother was of French, Irish, and Scottish descent, and his father was of French-Canadian ancestry; the family’s original surname was Carré.
At age eight, he began making faces before a mirror and discovered a talent for doing impressions.At age ten, Carrey wrote a letter to Carol Burnett of the Carol Burnett Show pointing out that he was already a master of impressions and should be considered for a role on the show; he was overjoyed when he received a form letter reply.
A fan of Monty Python, whose TV show Monty Python’s Flying Circus aired in the 1970s, in 2014 Carrey appeared on Monty Python’s Best Bits (Mostly) and recalled the effect on him of Ernest Scribbler (played by Michael Palin) laughing himself to death in “The Funniest Joke in the World” sketch.Radio Times states, “You’ll see why immediately: Palin’s performance is uncannily Carreyesque.”
Jim Carrey fans might want to get their tickets now for “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” as it could be the last acting role of the iconic comedian’s career.
Fans of Carrey are used to the actor taking extended acting breaks. The release of “Sonic the Hedgehog” in 2020 marked Carrey’s first major role in a studio movie since the 2014 sequel “Dumb and Dumber To.”
In between, the actor appeared in the indie films “The Bad Batch” and “Dark Crimes.” Carrey’s recent roles also include Showtime’s comedy series “Kidding,” which ran for 20 episodes across two seasons before being canceled. The comedian also guested on “Saturday Night Live” as Joe Biden for six episodes in 2020.
With the release of “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” Carrey returns to the franchise opposite Ben Schwartz, Tika Sumpter, James Marsden and Natasha Rothwell.
The first “Sonic” movie opened right before the pandemic in February 2020 and grossed just under $320 million worldwide. The sequel adds the voice of Idris Elba to the mix as Knuckles, a character that will be getting a spinoff series at Paramount Plus in the future.
Speaking to “Access Hollywood” this week, Carrey said he is planning to retire from acting following his reprisal of the villainous Robotnik in the upcoming “Sonic” sequel. How serious is Carrey about leaving acting behind? “Fairly serious,” he said.
“Well, I’m retiring. Yeah, probably. I’m being fairly serious,” Carrey said. “It depends. If the angels bring some sort of script that’s written in gold ink that says to me that it’s going to be really important for people to see, I might continue down the road, but I’m taking a break.”
Carrey added, “I really like my quiet life and I really like putting paint on canvas and I really love my spiritual life and I feel like — and this is something you might never hear another celebrity say as long as time exists — I have enough. I’ve done enough. I am enough.”
Watch Carrey’s full interview with “Access Hollywood” in the video below.
