Jim Carrey : biography
On the 17th of January in 1962 in a Canadian town Newmarket James Eugene Carrey was born. He grew in an extremely musical family, as his mother, Catlin Carrey was a singer, and father Percy Carrey, who had a profession of an accountant, learnt to play the saxophone by himself. Besides Jim, they had three older children: Rita, Pat and John. Jim’s mother had a very interesting quality – she was always looking for different symptoms of illnesses, and that’s why she didn’t work. Other people thought that Catlin Carrey was slightly abnormal or even mad. That’s why Percy had to work too much, and when he was offered to work for bigger salary, they had to change the place of living. The family often moved from one place to another, and children in their spare time also earned money. When Percy Carrey lost his job, the family had to live in a trailer, and then even in a camp.
Jim was a very unordinary child – he liked to make faces most of all and could stay in front of a mirror for several hours, improving his mastery. He showed an interest to parodies very early. At the age of ten the boy tried his luck, sending Carol Barnet eighty parodies for a famous show, and even got the answer from Hollywood with a polite refusal. Father, who knew about his son’s inclinations, sent him to a local club “Yuk Yuk”, where young and beginning comedians performed. Jim was fifteen years, and the first experiment of performance wasn’t a triumph – a number, made by him and his father, was hissed off by the audience.
Since the age of thirteen Jim made extra money on the side in a supermarket, then on the factory, and sometimes his work lasted for eight hours. He couldn’t combine work and studies, and he finished school after the ninth class. Jim needed two years to forget his failure in “Yuk Yuk”, and finally he started to rehearse his new program. An owner of the comedian cub didn’t recognize grown up Jim and laughed during his performance with other people. The young man’s success was obvious – the audience didn’t only laugh, they demanded to repeat the program. Jim Carrey’s special quality on the stage, which he haв during all his life, was entire exerting himself to gain the maximal effect, trying to make all people laugh. A manager Spivak liked the talented comedian and under his leadership Jim Carrey became the main and unquestionable star of the club “Yuk Yuk”. It was exactly the star, rising on the horizon, that he was called by one of the critics of “Toronto Star”, a rather popular newspaper.
When Jim was convinced that he could perform on the stage, he made the next goal for himself – to force his way to cinema screens at any price. The young comedian got a lot from lessons of actor’s mastery from experienced teachers. Soon Jim was noticed, and he was invited to play secondary roles in films and television series. At the age of nineteen he got a flattering suggestion from his friens and partner to work in “Caesar’s Palace” in Los Angeles. The first successful performance inspired Jim, and he decided that he should conquer Hollywood.
When Jim Carrey moved in Los Angeles, he started to perform in a club “A Comedian Shop”. He was lucky – Rodny Dangerfield, a famous American comedian, noticed Jim. The experienced actor offered the talented young man to perform on his concerts for warmin up. Carrey needed three years of persistent work to become famous to American viewers. During this time he tried to force his way to television and took part in the audition for a program on NBC channel, but failed. Incidentally, in spring of 1996 Jim got to this program, but as an invited anchorman. An attempt of Joel Schumacher to give Jim Carrey a role in a film “D.C. Cab” also failed. But Jim didn’t lose heart, and his firmness brought its results. In 1984 the young comedian’s “rubber face” gathered full audience, and the “People” magazine called him one of the best young parody masters. In autumn he was invited to play a good role in a comedian series “The Duck Factory”. This role showed a right meek creature, who always got in stupid situations, and the Jim’s talent displayed itself in its full power… He couldn’t get millions on this project, of course, but, nevertheless, money was enough for Jim to bring all his family in Los Angeles. The comedian’s parents confessed that he made them happy.