Arguably the top screen comedian of the 1990s, Canadian-born entertainer Jim Carrey has combined equal parts of his idol Jerry Lewis, his spiritual ancestor Harry Ritz, and the loose-limbed Ray Bolger into a gleefully uninhibited screen image that is uniquely his own. Carrey's life wasn't always been a barrel of {%7Blaughs;%7D} he was born on January 17th, 1962 into a peripatetic household that regularly ran the gamut from middle-class comfort to abject poverty. Not surprisingly, Carrey became a classic overachiever, excelling in academics while keeping his classmates in stitches with his wild improvisations and elastic facial expressions. His comedy club debut at age 16 was a dismal failure, but Carrey had already resolved not to be beaten down by life's disappointments (as his father, a frustrated musician, had been). By age 22, he was making a good living as a stand-up comic, and was starring on the short-lived sitcom 'The Duck Factory', a series which curiously did little to take advantage of its star's uncanny physical dexterity. Throughout the 1980s, Carrey appeared in supporting roles in such films as 'Peggy Sue Got Married' (1986) and 'Earth Girls are Easy' (1990). Full television stardom came Carrey's way in 1990 as the resident 'white guy' on Keenan Ivory Wayans' Fox TV comedy weekly 'In Living Color'. from video.barnesandnoble.com
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