History Creator / JimCarrey

* ''WesternAnimation/{{A Christmas Carol|2009}}'' (2009): Ebenezer Scrooge '''[[LoadsAndLoadsOfRoles and]]''' the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come (all via MotionCapture)

* AnimatedAdaptation: His first [[Film/AceVenturaPetDetective three]] [[Film/TheMask hit]] [[Film/DumbAndDumber movies]] were all turned into Saturday morning cartoons in the mid-90s. Note that all of those movies were rated PG-13, resulting in the adaptations having more family-friendly jokes while retaining all of the wacky characteristics.

When the small-scale ''Film/AceVentura: Pet Detective'' arrived on movie screens in early 1994, it was [[ItWillNeverCatchOn roasted by critics]] but proved to be a surprisingly big hit. As it happened, he did two other hit movies that year (''Film/TheMask'' and ''Film/DumbAndDumber'') and was soon an A-list performer: the first big film comedy star of the 1990s, and ultimately the biggest.

* ''The Bad Batch'': The Hermit
* ''Dark Crimes'': Tadek (A psychological thriller where he not only plays a straight role but uses a Polish accent as TranslationConvention)

* NoIndoorVoice: Virtually every single one of his comedic roles has him screaming at the top of his lungs.

** '''Television and its effects on those who watch and make it''': Skip Tarkenton is an animator on a children's cartoon show. Wiploc and his cohorts LearntEnglishFromWatchingTelevision. Stanley Ipkiss' nature and abilities as The Mask stem from his love of vintage Looney Tunes/Tex Avery shorts. Edward Nygma's journey to supervillainy involves a device that creates 3D television images but ''also'' allows him to intercept the brainwaves of viewers. Chip Douglas was effectively raised by TV thanks to a neglectful mother, with frightening results. Truman Burbank is unknowingly raised ''on'' television. Andy Kaufman becomes a national star on television and leverages fame into increasingly wild performance art that plays with the medium. Bruce Nolan is a local television reporter. Steve Gray is a StageMagician/extreme stunt performer with his own cable TV show. Jeff Piccirillo is a children's show host who struggles to cope with the unhappy real world. (And this list doesn't even cover minor roles like the [=CBC=] anchorman or recurring ''In Living Color!'' characters...)
** Quite a few of his characters have or end up with '''alter egos''' of some kind -- a secret identity, a role they play, etc. Even Peter in ''Film/TheMajestic'' gets amnesia, is mistaken for another person, and begins to live as them. Often times, their character development involves them accepting and revealing who they are BeneathTheMask. (In a sense, Carrey himself underwent this in TheNineties, as discussed in ''Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond''.)

-->'''Robotnik:''' A lesser man would die here. I'll be home by Christmas.

* SignificantBirthDate: He happens to share a birthday (January 17) with Creator/AndyKaufman, as pointed out in publicity materials for ''Film/ManOnTheMoon''.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/HortonHearsAWho Horton Hears a Who!]]'' (2008): Horton (His second Dr. Seuss film)

* ''Literature/HortonHearsAWho'' (2008): Horton (His second Dr. Seuss film)

* NoIndoorVoice

When the small-scale ''Film/AceVentura: Pet Detective'' arrived on movie screens in early 1994, it was [[ItWillNeverCatchOn roasted by critics]] but proved to be a surprisingly big hit. As it happened, he did two other hit movies that year (''Film/TheMask'' and ''Film/DumbAndDumber'') and was soon an A-list performer: the first big film comedy star of the 1990s.

** '''Christmas''': Carrey has played The Grinch, Ebenezer Scrooge and the three Christmas spirits who haunt him, and (in the last of the ''Series/DrunkHistory'' web episodes) St. Nicholas. Other works of his that incorporate the holiday or its iconography to varying degrees include several ''Series/InLivingColor'' {{Christmas Episode}}s, ''Film/TheTrumanShow'', ''Film/ManOnTheMoon'', ''Film/TheNumber23'', ''Film/ILoveYouPhillipMorris'', and especially ''Series/{{Kidding}}'' -- and of course, one of his most famous characters is simply named [[Film/DumbAndDumber Lloyd Christmas]]. Many of his A-list vehicles were released in the November/December "holiday season" period starting with ''Dumb and Dumber'', too.

** '''Christmas''': Carrey has played The Grinch, Ebenezer Scrooge and the three Christmas spirits who haunt him, and (in the last of the ''Series/DrunkHistory'' web episodes) St. Nicholas. Other works of his that incorporate the holiday or its iconography to varying degrees include ''Film/TheTrumanShow'', ''Film/ManOnTheMoon'', ''Film/TheNumber23'', and especially ''Series/{{Kidding}}'' -- and of course, one of his most famous characters is simply named [[Film/DumbAndDumber Lloyd Christmas]]. Many of his A-list vehicles were released in the November/December "holiday season" period starting with ''Dumb and Dumber'', too.

** In his first released film, ''Introducing... Janet'', Carrey was the co-star, and didn't come in until about 10 minutes, the film really being about the titular Janet. It came to home video in 1995, retitled ''Rubberface'', with Carrey being the only person on the cover and the only name above the title, and the description on the box made it seem as if he was the protagonist.

* LargeHam: He has a folder under Film at the trope entry for a reason -- and it was originally the first one, at that. Think Creator/JackLemmon turned UpToEleven. There's an image somewhere on the Internet of various expressions he's made juxtaposed with various memes and the uncanny resemblance he has to them.

** Andy Kaufman: TheGadfly (UpToEleven when he assumes the Tony Clifton persona), TrollingCreator

** '''Christmas''': Carrey has played The Grinch, Ebenezer Scrooge and the three Christmas spirits who haunt him, and (in the last of the ''Series/DrunkHistory'' web episodes) St. Nicholas. Other works of his that incorporate the holiday or its iconography include ''Film/ManOnTheMoon'', ''Film/TheNumber23'', and especially ''Series/{{Kidding}}'' -- and of course, one of his most famous characters is simply named [[Film/DumbAndDumber Lloyd Christmas]]. Many of his A-list vehicles were released in the November/December "holiday season" period starting with ''Dumb and Dumber'', too.

* CareerResurrection: Carrey had a rough time of it in TheNewTens. His relationship with anti-autism pseudoscience promoter Jenny [=McCarthy=] was problematic to say the least, and then there was 2014's ''Film/DumbAndDumberTo'', the sequel to ''Film/DumbAndDumber''. Due to various legal issues surrounding that film against the crew responsible for making it, it was the end of Carrey's reign as a box office heavyweight (and he was the biggest for a time). For a few years he was mainly in smaller art-house releases and direct-to-video fare, and doing controversial paintings critical of various right-wing political figures, including then-President UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump. He also suffered from depression, exacerbated by the suicide of an ex-girlfriend. Slowly but surely he recovered though: ''Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond'', a documentary about his experiences on ''Film/ManOnTheMoon'', was acclaimed, he had a minor success with ''Series/{{Kidding}}'', and finally playing Dr. Robotnik in ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'' gave him his first big movie -- and a hit at that -- in years. From there he not only had another hit with [[Film/SonicTheHedgehog2 the sequel]] but had success as a novelist with ''Memoirs and Misinformation'', went viral with his limited-time stint on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' as Joe Biden, and appeared to great acclaim on Music/TheWeeknd's ''Dawn FM'' of all things.

** Quite a few of his characters have or end up with '''alter egos''' of some kind -- a secret identity, a role they play, etc. Even Peter in ''Film/TheMajestic'' gets amnesia, is mistaken for another person, and begins to live as them. Often times, their character development involves them accepting and revealing who they are BeneathTheMask.
** '''Christmas''': Carrey has played The Grinch, Ebenezer Scrooge and the three Christmas spirits who haunt him, and (in the last of the ''Series/DrunkHistory'' web episodes) St. Nicholas. Other works of his that incorporate the holiday or its iconography in some way include ''Film/ManOnTheMoon'', ''Film/TheNumber23'', and especially ''Series/{{Kidding}}'' -- and of course, one of his most famous characters is simply named [[Film/DumbAndDumber Lloyd Christmas]]. Many of his A-list vehicles were released in the November/December "holiday season" period starting with ''Dumb and Dumber'', too.

* StandUpComedy: He was already well established in this niche before his breakthrough on to TV and film later on.

** The Mask: TricksterGod (powers granted by the trapped spirit of Loki himself upgrading Stanley Ipkiss from a NiceGuy)

** Count Olaf: MasterOfDisguise (albeit with mixed results)

** '''Christmas''': Carrey has played The Grinch, Ebenezer Scrooge and the three Christmas spirits who haunt him, and (in the last of the ''Series/DrunkHistory'' web episodes) St. Nicholas. Other works of his that incorporate the holiday or its iconography in some way include ''Film/ManOnTheMoon'', ''Film/TheNumber23'', and especially ''Series/{{Kidding}}'' -- and of course, one of his most famous characters is simply named [[Film/DumbAndDumber Lloyd Christmas]].

A colorful Canadian-born actor with a face for molding, James Eugene Carrey (born January 17, 1962) launched his career as a comic in the late 1970s as a celebrity impressionist. He moved into acting in the mid-1980s, most notably in the short-lived sitcom ''The Duck Factory'', but -- after expanding his stage act beyond impressions by adding eccentric observational humor and commentary -- came to attention as a cast member on ''Series/InLivingColor'' Serving as the cast's TokenWhite male, he more than managed to hold his own with several popular sketch characters, including mannish bodybuilder Vera [=DeMilo=], Fire Marshal Bill Burns -- a masochistic, cartoonishly destructive fire marshal hired to teach people fire safety (with disastrous results) whether or not he's somewhere where fire safety is needed -- and Grandpa Jack [=McGee=], the depressed, divorced, alcoholic host of ''The Dysfunctional Home Show''. Some notable celebrity impressions he did for the show include Creator/PaulReubens (as Pee-Wee Herman), Music/VanillaIce, Creator/TomHanks (in a parody of the movie ''Film/{{Philadelphia}}''), Sgt. Stacy Koon (from the infamous Rodney King beating trial in the early 1990s), UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush, UsefulNotes/BillClinton, and Music/MichaelBolton.

Starting with ''Film/TheTrumanShow'', [[TomHanksSyndrome he made a transition to dramatic fare]], with ''Film/EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind'' probably his most lauded serious role. It hasn't stopped him from appearing in goofy comedy though; nowadays he's well-respected for his total acting range as in the Showtime {{Dramedy}} ''Series/{{Kidding}}'', which ran two seasons. While not as popular as he was at his height in TheNineties, his career has been surprisingly durable.

In his youth, Carrey's family struggled with poverty after his father Percy lost his job as an accountant; for a time they were even homeless. Nonetheless, his parents were deeply supportive of his showbusiness ambitions (in part because Percy gave up a potential career as a saxophonist for the more "stable" accountancy job). In his early days performing standup comedy, Carrey reportedly wrote himself a check for almost $1 million and promised himself that he would, one day, be worth enough to legally cash it. That promise was fulfilled as his star rose in 1994; by ''Dumb and Dumber'' he had already earned several times more than the check itself was worth. When his father died, he put the check he wrote to himself in his father's casket.[[note]]Other stories contend he was more ambitious still, writing a ''$10 million'' check to himself when he was '''ten years old''', postdated 1995. Either way, that hope also came to pass as true![[/note]]

* AdamWesting: He's often poked fun at his goofy/LargeHam reputation.

* TheHyena: Carrey's characters all tend to have a smarmy, nasal laugh. He added a variation in ''Film/MeMyselfAndIrene'' by making Hank give a chuckle so raspy it sounded like a dog panting.
* LargeHam: He has a folder under Film at the trope entry for a reason (and it was originally the first one, at that). Think Creator/JackLemmon turned UpToEleven.
** There's an image somewhere on the internet of various expressions he's made juxtaposed with various Internet memes and the uncanny resemblance he has to them.

** '''Television and its effects on those who watch and make it''': Skip Tarkenton is an animator on a children's cartoon show. Wiploc and his cohorts LearntEnglishFromWatchingTelevision. Stanley Ipkiss' nature and abilities as The Mask stem from his love of vintage Looney Tunes/Tex Avery shorts. Edward Nygma's journey to supervillainy involves a device that creates 3D television images but ''also'' allows him to intercept the brainwaves of viewers. Chip Douglas was effectively raised by TV thanks to a neglectful mother, with frightening results. Truman Burbank is unknowingly raised ''on'' television. Andy Kaufman becomes a national star on television and leverages fame into increasingly wild performance art that plays with the medium. Bruce Nolan is a local television reporter. Steve Gray is a StageMagician/extreme stunt performer with his own cable TV show. Jeff Piccirillo is a children's show host who struggles to cope with the unhappy real world.

** ''Memoirs and Misinformation'' is basically ''Adam Westing: The Novel''. For instance, "Carrey" goes full MethodActing while preparing for the prospective role of ''Mao Zedong's ghost inhabiting his body'', while bristling at his agents who are trying to convince him to star in a movie based on the Play-Doh Fun Factory toy.

** "Alrighty then!" (a catchphrase of his stand-up comedy that was written into ''Ace Ventura'')

In his early days performing standup comedy, Carrey reportedly wrote himself a check for almost $1 million and promised himself that he would, one day, be worth enough to legally cash it (as his family struggled with money and was homeless for a good chunk of their lives after his father's saxophone shop went under). That promise was fulfilled soon after his performance in ''The Mask'' and ''Dumb and Dumber'', though by that point, he had already earned several times more than the check itself was worth. When his father died, he put the check he wrote to himself in his father's casket.[[note]]Other stories contend he was more ambitious still, writing a ''$10 million'' check to himself when he was '''ten years old''', postdated 1995. Either way, that hope also came to pass as true.[[/note]]

* ''Film/AceVentura'' series (1994, 1995): Ace Ventura (First and second films of franchise -- a rarity, as noted above)

* ''Film/TheMajestic'' (2001): Peter Appleton (Notable as his first truly against-type role, though Truman and Kaufman hinted towards it.)

* ''Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond'' (2017): A retrospective documentary of the intense MethodActing he did for ''Film/ManOnTheMoon''.

A colorful Canadian-born actor with a face for molding, James Eugene Carrey (born January 17, 1962) launched his career as a comic in the late 1970s as a celebrity impressionist. He moved into acting in the mid-1980s, most notably in the short-lived sitcom ''The Duck Factory'', but -- after expanding his stage act beyond impressions by adding eccentric observational humor and commentary -- came to attention as a cast member on ''Series/InLivingColor'' Serving as the cast's TokenWhite male, he more than managed to hold his own with several popular sketch characters, including mannish bodybuilder Vera [=DeMilo=], Fire Marshal Bill Burns -- a masochistic, cartoonishly destructive fire marshal hired to teach people fire safety (with disastrous results) whether or not he's somewhere where fire safety is needed -- and Grandpa Jack, the depressed, divorced, alcoholic host of ''The Dysfunctional Home Show''. Some notable celebrity impressions he did for the show include Creator/PaulReubens (as Pee-Wee Herman), Music/VanillaIce, Creator/TomHanks (in a parody of the movie ''Film/{{Philadelphia}}''), Sgt. Stacy Koon (from the infamous Rodney King beating trial in the early 1990s), UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush, UsefulNotes/BillClinton, and Music/MichaelBolton.

* ''Dawn FM'' (2022): For this ConceptAlbum by Music/TheWeeknd he plays [[TheFerryman the DJ]] who appears on three numbers: the title track (which leads directly into the song "Gasoline" and is included in the latter's video), "Out of Time", and the closing track "Phantom Regret by Jim" (which features him reciting an original poem). He also appears onscreen in the music video for "Out of Time".

** Andy Kaufman: TheGadfly (cranked UpToEleven when he assumes the Tony Clifton persona), TrollingCreator

** The Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come: TricksterMentor (unlike in most ''Christmas Carol'' tellings, it torments Scrooge not only with terrible visions of the future but also shrinking him down to mouse size and pursuing him on a hearse)

** In his first ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' appearance (1996), the ''Creator/JoePesci Show'' skit he appeared in had him playing Creator/JimmyStewart... while [[Series/TheKidsInTheHall Mark McKinney]] played Jim Carrey. "Stewart" is appalled by "Carrey" ("[[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs Smoke a lot of dope]], do you son?") and mocks him as a diva:

** When he presented an Oscar in 1997, he envisioned himself being used in [[TheDeadRiseToAdvertise commercials after his death]], making fun of a then-current Trident slogan: "Who wants gum? (turns around and starts talking out of his butt) I do! I do!"

** In ''Series/ThirtyRock'', the episode "Leap Day" shows him playing the lead in ''Leap Dave Williams'', a fictional film with a plot not unlike his more family-friendly [[TheEveryman Everyman]] fare: Overworked businessman Dave Williams finds himself transforming into the mythical Leap Day William, a [[HumanoidAbomination a fish person who lives at the bottom of the Marianas Trench]] that emerges every Leap Day to give candy to crying children.

** In ''{{Series/ThirtyRock}}'', the episode "Leap Day" shows him playing the lead in ''Leap Dave Williams'', a fictional film with a plot not unlike his more family-friendly [[TheEveryman Everyman]] fare: Overworked businessman Dave Williams finds himself transforming into the mythical Leap Day William, a [[HumanoidAbomination a fish person who lives at the bottom of the Marianas Trench]] that emerges every Leap Day to give candy to crying children.

* ''[[{{Series/ThirtyRock}} Leap Dave Williams]]'' (2012): Overworked businessman Dave Williams finds himself transforming into the mythical Leap Day William, a [[HumanoidAbomination a fish person who lives at the bottom of the Marianas Trench]] that emerges every leap day to give candy to crying children.

* ''[[{{Series/30Rock}} Leap Dave Williams]]'' (2012): Overworked businessman Dave Williams finds himself transforming into the mythical Leap Day William, a [[HumanoidAbomination a fish person who lives at the bottom of the Marianas Trench]] that emerges every leap day to give candy to crying children.