Jim Carrey

On April 6 2010, Jim and his longtime girlfriend Jenny McCarthy announced on their Twitter accounts that they had ended their five year relationship.

Jim packed on over 50 pounds in preparation for his role as Curly in the "Three Stooges" film. Unfortunately, the project never got off the ground and Jim had to lose the weight.

Along with a number of other celebrities, Jim has added his voice to call to have Aung San Suu Kyi, a political prisoner, Nobel Prize winner and the democratically elected President of Burma to be released by the military hunta that has been maintaining control over that country.

Jim Carrey and his longtime girlfriend Jenny McCarthy had created the charitable foundation called Generation Rescue, an organization which helps families whose children have been afflicted by autism.

In 2003, Jim was in discussions to play Colonel Steve Austin in a big-screen comedic remake of the popular 1970s television show The Six Million Dollar Man, but the project did not materialize.

In January 2009, while Jim and Jenny McCarthy were celebrating Jim's 47th birthday by attending a 50 Cent concert, they were surprised by 50 inviting Jim up onto the stage. The audience then serenaded him with a special rendition of It's Your Birthday.

Researchers in New York and London have discovered a condition they have named "Truman Syndrome", named after Jim Carrey's character in The Truman Show (1998). People diagnosed with this psychological disorder believe their lives are being aired on worldwide TV.

After the negative experience of making Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Jim had vowed never to do a sequel again.

Along with girlfriend Jenny McCarthy, Jim continues to champion the idea that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine can cause autism in children, despite considerable opposition from the medical community.

In August of 2008, Jim was rated tenth on Forbes magazine's "Ten Most Overpaid Actors" list. The list was based on comapring how much revenue the actor's movies make versus the amounts they were paid for their performances.

He has been a vegetarian for most of his life.

He had gotten his American citizenship in 2001. He still retains his Canadian citizenship.

In 2003, Jim ranked #5 on Star TV's "Top 10 Box Office Stars of the 1990s" list.

As a child, Jim stated in an interview that when he played hockey, he got the most penalty minutes in a game... and he was a goalie.

In a poorly thought out attempt to amuse his castmembers and crew, he infuriated everyone on the set of The Number 23 in February 2007, by urinating on the actual movie set in front of everyone. He is known for his over-the-top antics, but castmates think that this time he had gone too far.

Jim hosted a special holiday party to benefit the Los Angeles Fire Department's 'Spark Of Love' toy drive. He escorted his 19 year old daughter Jane, girlfriend Jenny McCarthy, and her 4 year old son Evan. 500 guests arrived, donating over a thousand toys for needy area children, from guests including: Ron Howard, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Billy Corgan, Cuba Gooding Jr., Morgan Freeman, and Pauley Shore. Professional skaters Surya Bonaly and Sasha Cohen performed on ice.

He fired his agent of fifteen years, Nick Stevens at United Talent Agency, after a pair of productions that Carrey was to work on, budgeted in excess of $100 million dollar each, (20th Century Fox's Used Guys and Paramount's Ripley's Believe It Or Not) were dropped due to escalating costs.

He has been dating Jenny McCarthy since July of 2005. They have no plans to ever get married. Both had been through painful divorces in the past and neither of them believe that they need a piece of paper to be in love. They plan to fashion their relationship after Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell: happily un-married.

In France, he is referred to as the son of Jerry Lewis.

During a time when he was down on his luck, he wrote himself a check for ten million dollars and post-dated it for Thanksgiving Day, 1995. The motivational trick seemed to work. Just three days before his father's death, Jim was offered ten million dollars for appearing in The Mask. His father was absolutely delighted. Jim placed the original check in his father's breast pocket before they closed the coffin.

Jim's mother Kathleen suffered depression and was often chronically sick with both real and imagined illnesses. His father was a saxophone player with a big band, but sold his sax and dreams to take a job as an accountant.

His career started off with modest success. He was starring in a television comedy show (The Duck Factory in 1984) and two movies (Copper Mountain and All In Good Taste, both in 1983). Feeling confident in his prospects, he sent for his parents in Toronto and set them up to live in Los Angeles to be close to him. Unfortunately, things then went badly for Jim. His movies were financial failures and The Duck Factory was cancelled after thirteen shows. As his money began to run out, a depressed Jim started to paint a portrait of his father with a stopwatch in one hand and a gun in the other, calling it 'Waiting Around To Die'. He eventually did the hardest thing he ever had to do, and sent his parents back to Toronto.

When he was asked to appear as a guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, he was extatic. However, he left somewhat depressed after not having been invited to join Johnny on the couch for a career-making chat.

Jim's hero is James Stewart. He got to meet him in the late 1980s, but he was so excited to see him in person that he ended up making a fool out of himself.

He always enjoyed phenomenal support from his parents. His father, Percy, despite battling manic depression, was a great 'stage dad'. He helped Jim write his first routines. His mother, Kathleen, made him his yellow polyester suit with tails for his stage debut. His first performance was not well received, but he didn't give up. He just continued practicing his impressions, among whom were Michael Landon, Henry Fonda, Gandhi, Elvis, and James Stewart.

Jim's father Percy lost his job when Jim was in the 9th grade, forcing them to sell their house and relocate to Scarborough, where the whole family took on jobs at the Titan Wheels factory as janitors or security guards. Jim would work a 8 hour shift directly after school, scrubbing toilets and floors. At one point, the family all lived in their VW Camper Van.

When he was a child and life was difficult for his family, Jim would wear his tap shoes to bed. He did this in case his parents needed cheering up during the night.

At the age of ten, Jim had tried to publish a book of his poems and had sent his résumé to Carol Burnett. Nothing came of either attempt.

When he was in junior high, Jim insisted on performing for his classmates. His teachers realized that the only way to calm him was to allow him a ten-minute spot at the end of each school day.

As a child, Jim loved Christmas time. Not because of the holiday season or the gifts, but because visiting relatives increased his audience. He obsessively studied television shows, perfecting impressions of the stars and his alcoholic grandfather.

While on his way to an audition for a spot on Saturday Night Live in 1986 (alongside Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman), he spotted an employee of NBC atop the roof, threatening to jump. The experience shook him up and obviously threw his comic timing off. He failed the audition.

In 1999, Jim attended a private concert by the band Phish in Careystock Vermont with his production crew from Me, Myself and Irene. It took place at the lead singer's home. Jim joined in with the band to sing 'Hey You' by Pink Floyd and 'Come Together' by The Beatles.

Jim wrote a song for acoustic duo Tuck and Patti.

Jim's father, Percy, died of lung cancer and complications from Alzheimer's disease in 1994. His mother, Kathleen, died of kidney failure in 1991.

Aside from being an accomplished actor, comedian, comedy writer and impressionist, Jim is also an amateur singer, songwriter, painter, and sculptor.

He began dating his Me, Myself and Irene co-star Renee Zellweger for six months after filming wrapped.

During the filming of Man On The Moon, Jim suffered neck injuries while recreating the scene in which Kaufman gets in the ring with professional wrestler, Jerry Lawlor.

When he became aware of the plans to film the biopic Man On The Moon, Jim auditioned fiercely for the role of Andy Kaufman. He went to the extreme lengths of hiring a production crew to record his audition tape.

He tries to keep his personal life private and goes to great lengths to avoid the papparazzi.

Jim landed parts in two Buddy Van Horn films that starred Clint Eastwood; The Dead Pool in 1988 and Pink Cadillac in 1989. It was Clint Eastwood himself who asked to have Jim involved in both films because he loved the impressions Jim did of Clint.

Jim married his Dumb and Dumber co-star and love interest Lauren Holly on September 23, 1996 and the couple divorced on July 29, 1997, citing irreconcilable differences.

After his 2 year stint in Las Vegas ended in 1981 (he was the opening act for Rodney Danerfield), Jim returned to Canada for a time.

Jim was discovered while performing stand-up in the Canadian comedy clubs, by a booking agent. He gave Jim his first break in 1979, opening for legendary comedian Rodney Dangerfield in Las Vegas.

At the age 15, Jim began honing his comedy act at the 'Yuk Yuks' comedy club in Toronto, encouraged by his father.

Jim's $20 million paycheck for The Cable Guy was the highest salary paid to a comedian at the time.

He was slated to play Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but the studio took almost 14 months to confirm. By then, he was committed to Fun with Dick and Jane.

He had been chosen by People magazine as one of the '50 Most Beautiful People in the World' in 1997.

Jim dedicated his movie Jim Carrey: The Un-Natural Act, to his mother after her death.

Although he was a straight-A student, he dropped out of high-school to begin working in comedy clubs.