Since shooting to stardom in 1994 with the box office triple whammy of "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective", "The Mask", and "Dumb & Dumber", Jim Carrey has juggled slapstick farce like "Liar, Liar" with edgier, more challenging projects like "The Truman Show" and "Man on the Moon".
To many though, the Canadian-born actor will always be the rubber-limbed goofball who first turned heads as the only caucasian performer on TV's "In Living Color". Like Robin Williams, Carrey's attempts to broaden his range have enjoyed mixed success.
As Eminem might say, will the real Jim Carrey please stand up? It's a request that remains unanswered, despite his anarchic turn (beneath a ton of fuzzy green make-up) in new release "The Grinch".
A born exhibitionist, Carrey endured a troubled childhood and a disastrous live debut at the age of 16 to emerge as one of Hollywood's brightest stars. He was the first actor to break the $20 million barrier (for box office flop "The Cable Guy"), and he won a Golden Globe for "The Truman Show" that made many assume an Oscar nomination was in the bag.
Curiously, though, it never materialised. Could this oversight be due to the Academy's well-documented prejudice against comic actors? Or might it be because Carrey once pretended to talk through his rectum while presenting an Oscar?
Married twice (to waitress Melissa Womer and actress Lauren Holly), he is now dating RenΓ©e Zellweger, his co-star in "Me, Myself and Irene".
