Since the s, Carrey appeared in fewer films, with notable works including Dumb and Dumber To and his role as Doctor Eggman in the Sonic the Hedgehog film series —present. Although largely typecast as a comedic actor, Carrey had success in dramatic roles. Carrey also starred in the Showtime tragicomedy series Kidding — , for which he received his seventh Golden Globe nomination.
At age eight, he began making faces before a mirror and discovered a talent for doing impressions. His family later moved to Burlington , Ontario, where they would spend eight years; Jim attended Aldershot High School while there. Furthermore, in return for living in the house across the street from the factory, the family—primarily teenage sons Jim and John—would work as janitors and security guards at the tire factory, doing eight-hour shifts from 6 pm into the next morning.
He began to perform comedy in downtown Toronto while continuing to work at the factory. In a Hamilton Spectator interview, Carrey said, "If my career in show business hadn't panned out I would probably be working today in Hamilton , Ontario, at the Dofasco steel mill. Carrey's first stand-up comedy experience took place in at the age of 15 with his father trying to help him put together a stage act, driving him to Downtown Toronto to debut at the recently-opened Yuk Yuk's comedy club operating one-night-a-week out of community center The 's basement on Church Street.
Eventually, the family's financial situation improved and they moved into a new home in Jackson's Point. In a short period of time, the seventeen-year-old went from open-mic nights at the club to regular paid shows, building his reputation in the process. Parallel to his increasing local Toronto-area popularity as an impressionist stand-up comic, Carrey tried to break into sketch comedy , auditioning to be a cast member for the —81 season of NBC 's Saturday Night Live. Carrey ended up not being selected by the show's new executive producer Jean Doumanian who picked thirty-one-year-old Charles Rocket instead.
Continuing to perform his stand-up act of contortionist impressions in the city of Toronto and surrounding towns, in February , nineteen-year-old Carrey was booked as the opening act for the rock band Goddo at The Roxy Theatre in Barrie for two shows on consecutive nights; the rock crowd booed him offstage and he refused to return for the second night. In April , he appeared in an episode of the televised stand-up show An Evening at the Improv.
