Perhaps the greatest comedy actor of our time turns 60 and we look back on his career, but especially the year 1994 which turned him into a star.
Charlie Chaplin, Jerry Lewis - and Jim Carrey. Regardless of what one thinks of his characteristic style of play, there is no denying that the Canadian has become perhaps our biggest, most popular star in the comedy industry. The big breakthrough came in 1994, but the fact is that Carrey was active long before that.

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Already as a 15-year-old in the 1970s, Carrey tried to stand up for the first time but really flopped. It took many attempts, including a failed audition for "Saturday Night Live" (the first of several) before he started getting real jobs and moved to Hollywood West Side Story.

A relatively successful career as a stand-up comedian began, which also led to a lead role in the vampire comedy "A Lady on the Bite" and supporting roles in more respected titles such as "Peggy Sue Married" and the Clint Eastwood films "The Game of Death" and "Pink Cadillac".

In the 1990s, he starred in the popular but short-lived sketch program "In Living Color" (with the Wayans brothers) which would eventually lead to his first major film role France.

The galloping detective

The producers of the first comedy about Ace Ventura had already had several other, more famous actors in mind (from Rick Moranis to Whoopi Goldberg) before they discovered Carrey in "In Living Color". Carrey helped rewrite the script and was given free rein to improvise during the filming. He himself has told how confident he was that the film West Side Story would either be something people really liked - or ruin him. He could hardly have been more right, when the film was released in February.

While the critics were hesitant to say the least (especially those who emphasized the film's transphobia), the cinema audience flocked. Rarely or never had they seen such a wild, energetic and insane madness on film before. The film grossed over $ 107 million (on a $ 15 million budget) and Carrey became a superstar overnight. It was followed by two sequels (one of which was live on DVD without Carrey) and a cartoon TV series.