A Carrey-zy Quiz

Answer: Impressions of television actors and of his grandfather.

Born in Newmarket, Ontario on January 17, 1962, to Percy and Kathleen Carrey, James was the youngest of the Carrey brood. His older siblings, Pat, John and Rita, used to enjoy his funny antics, however, at times, as Jim started talking, he would be an overwhelming personality on the home front. His brothers and sister used to try to get out of taking Jim along when they would play with their friends...knowing that Jim would, without a doubt, try to be the center of attention.

When he was about five years old, he started to do impersonations of television actors, however, his most requested impression was of his grandfather. Jim used to love the holiday season, because during family visits he would have a captive audience in which he could hone his impressions. His grandfather marveled as to how well his grandson could sound and act just like him.

Needless to say, it was the start of something big. Just how big, the Carreys really had no idea. Although they all had a strong feeling that with Jim's hyperactive personality, and penchant for being the center of attention, he would one day achieve whatever ambitions he desired to explore.

Answer: Titan Wheels Factory

When Jim was thirteen, due to his father losing his job, the family was forced to move to Scarborough...not far from Toronto. The entire family chipped in to help make ends meet. For Jim, that meant going to school eight hours a day and then working a four to six hour shift at Titan Wheels Factory.

While working at Titan Wheels, Jim would try to find every opportunity he could to be the jester of the bunch. Most times this did not go over well with the shift supervisor, however, never one to back down, Jim eventually started impersonating his supervisor, which earned him several chuckles from his boss and eventually Jim was left alone to go about his work and, of course, his impersonations.

Answer: Praying Mantis

While Jim was in junior high, his teachers had problems trying to control him, as he always wanted to be the center of attention. He could be counted on to disrupt the class, impersonate the teachers, his classmates and any television actor that he deemed worthy of his talents. His teachers, very bothered by having to get not only him, but the entire class under control, started allowing him a specific time, anywhere from ten to fifteen minutes during the day, to get his hyperactivity out of the way...which meant doing his impersonations.

At home, it was more of the same. With his mother, Kathleen, often ill and needing bed rest, Jim used to sleep in his tap shoes throughout the night. The reason for this was that if he felt his mother needed to be cheered up, he could get right out of bed and start tap dancing for her, however, that only succeeded in disturbing the entire household. Jim being his ever inventive self, came up with the idea to start wearing only underwear to bed, and often would end up in his parents' bedroom pretending to be a praying mantis. His parents literally did not know what to do about his hyperactive ways.

Eventually, all of the crazy antics that he did as a child and as a teenager, would set the stage for Jim to become one of the biggest comedic actors in the 1990s.

Answer: Comedy Store

At the age of fifteen, Jim finally landed what he considers his "big break". He debuted his comedy routine, complete with a polyester suit in yellow made by his mother, at Yuk Yuk's Comedy Club. (His first stage costume resembled the leisure suit that Carry would one day wear in Chuck Russell's 1994 blockbuster hit "The Mask".)

One would think that with all the antics he was up to from the time he could walk and talk, that his first appearance as a comedian at Yuk Yuk's Comedy Club, would have been a big hit, however, the exact opposite happened, Jim was a disaster. The crowd booed and hissed at him, the manager of Yuk Yuk's was starting to doubt allowing him to perform. No one was more disappointed than Jim himself. His father gave him a good old fashioned pep talk, and told his son to get back on the horse and to show everyone what he is made of...and that is exactly what Jim did.

After his disastrous debut at Yuk Yuk's, Jim went all around Toronto securing himself performances. With each new appearance, Jim was starting to come into his own and his local fan base was growing. Outside of the clubs where Carrey was performing, people lined up hours before his show was to start.

When Jim was sixteen, he decided that he wanted to be a full-time comedian, so he dropped out of high school. Jim's father was a great help to his son, and was considered by his son to be the perfect stage dad. Percy always had encouraging words for Jim, and often gave him ideas.

When Jim was seventeen, he decided that if he really wanted to be a comedian, he would need to move to Los Angeles. So Jim packed his bags and headed to the Golden State...California.

Carrey lucked out as, just about a month after arriving in Los Angeles, he landed a regular appearance as a stand-up comic at the Comedy Store. The crowds loved him, and the owner and manager loved the money that Carrey's crazy skits brought in.

Answer: Waitress

One night while performing at the Comedy Store, Carrey had an opportunity to meet Rodney Dangerfield. Dangerfield thought that Carrey was too funny, and decided that he wanted him on tour with him. Jim was astounded and flabbergasted that Rodney Dangerfield wanted him as part of his comedy tour...a tour which was to start in Las Vegas, Nevada at Caesar's Palace. Jim was starting to realise his aspirations of being a full-time comedian.

At the same time that Carrey was starting to make a name for himself, but not really knowing how to get to that next step, there were other comedians, such as Arsenio Hall, that were getting the attention and appearing on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show".

Eventually, Carrey was invited to appear on the "Tonight Show", however, as with other guests, Carson often had them sit on the couch next to his desk and had a good chat with them. That was not to be the case with Jim.

Pressure was mounting from Jim himself to finally break through and hit pay dirt...he was the only one that thought everything was moving way too slow.

During this time, Jim was starting to appear in very small parts in films, mostly in Canadian film productions. Carrey's first Hollywood film debut came in the form of appearing as a journalist's cameraman who went undercover to expose a massage parlour that was doing more than just massages, in Anthony Kramreither's 1983 film "All in Good Taste".

Then in 1983, he appeared in Glen Salzman's and Rebecca Yates' film, "Introducing...Janet", where he appeared as a comedian, who helps an overweight girl understand and appreciate herself and develop her comedic talent. Finally, Carrey got his major film role. He was signed to star alongside Lauren Hutton in Howard Storm's 1985 film "Once Bitten", where he portrayed a victim of the Countess and once he is bitten by her, finds himself sleeping all day and eating raw meat.

After a stellar performance in "Once Bitten", Carrey again found himself out of work. He decided that he wanted to be at a certain place in his career within a few years, and so being the go-getter that he was, he duplicated a check on an index card and wrote the "check" out to himself for $10,000,000, and posted dated the check for Thanksgiving Day in 1995. As his childhood has shown, Jim always knew how to dream big.

In 1986, while performing at a local comedy venue, Jim met Melissa Wormer. Melissa was a waitress, and she usually worked during Jim's performances, having got to know Jim, she fell in love with him. A year later, in 1987, the couple married and had one child, Jane Erin. Jim and Melissa's happiness would not be long lasting.

Due to Jim's ever increasing demands on his time, he lost out on many moments with his wife and daughter and, eventually, the couple divorced in December 1995.

Answer: False

In 1986, Jim auditioned for "Saturday Night Live", and was shocked and horrified that he flunked the audition. If by some chance he passed the audition, there was a good possibility that Carrey's overbearing and hyperactive personality would have taken over the entire show.

While disappointed that he did not pass his audition, he was thinking about his next step to acquire his dreams of stardom. Upon leaving the building, Carry noticed the crowds of people outside and noticed they were looking up...on top of the NBC sign was a man attempting to jump.

Answer: Worm Man

Working towards his goal of being a famous comedian, Jim knew that if he wanted that to happen then he needed to change many things. With the help of his father, he decided that it would be best to re-invent some of his more funnier skits and personalities. The one that he totally re-invented and put much energy into was Worm Man.

As his acts became zanier, he was often compared to Buster Keaton, and the French said he was a genius just like Jerry Lewis.

Answer: Pink Cadillac

While Hollywood was changing, so was Carrey. He still held onto his high aspirations. During 1989, he landed a small part in Clint Eastwood's 1989 film "Pink Cadillac", where he portrayed a comedian.

"Pink Cadillac" led to a string of other films such as, 1991's "High Strung", 1992's "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and 1992's "Doing Time on Maple Drive", which was made for television.

Jim was offered and accepted the part of Ace Ventura, in Tom Shadyac's 1994 film, "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective", which was about a detective that likes to help people find missing animals. Carrey was at his best.

Answer: In Living Color

Having met Damon Wayans in the 1988 film "Earth Girls are Easy", Jim was shocked and surprised when Damon's brother, Keenan, offered him a chance to appear in a regular capacity on their 1990 television show, "In Living Color".

Damon and his brothers thought that Carrey was a bit over the top, but Carrey's craziness on the show brought in more and more viewers.

While only appearing in seven episodes of "In Living Color", Carrey was now at the point in his career when his dream would finally come true...along with that duplicated check that he wrote to himself.

Three days before his father passed away, Carrey was offered and accepted the part of Stanley Ipkiss in Chuck Russell's 1994 film "The Mask". Stanley is a banker by day, until he finds a strange mask that give him super powers. Jim took out the "check" that he made payable to himself for $10,000,000 and tore it up...he had reached his goal.

His father was able to see his youngest son's dream materialise and for Jim, he was very glad that his visualization came true.

Answer: Batman Forever

After 1994's "The Mask" came 1994's "Dumb and Dumber". Jim was now being recognised for his funny ways, and was being looked at for a number of films. One character that he was offered to portray was that of Edward Nygma, who plots to destroy the world, by using a gadget that would fry the minds of everyone that had a television set. The film was 1995's "Batman Forever", Edward Nygma's alter-ego was The Riddler...and Carrey was perfect for the part.

Carrey inspires the funny in all of us. While some do not like him, no one can say that the man does not have a special talent to bring every one's laughter to the surface.

Carrey has appeared in over thirty films and televison shows. With his unique ability to succeed, Carrey has proven that childhood dreams really do come true.