Jim Carrey, who has a career spanning nearly 40 years in movies, could be done when it comes to appearing in any more films.
The actor and comedian, known for movies such as Ace Ventura, The Truman Show, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, says he plans to step away from acting.
While he seemed to indicate he would take a break from Hollywood, he also left the door open to continue, particularly if a particular role came his way.
Jim Carrey is ready to step away from acting career
In 1983, comedian Jim Carrey appeared in his first movie role in The Sex and Violence Family Hour, a direct-to-video release. His more notable early movies included Once Bitten, Peggy Sue Got Married, and Earth Girls Are Easy.
It wasn’t until 1994 that he hit his stride and began to surge in popularity, thanks to comedy hits like Ace Ventura, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber. He’d appear in many more box office hits and cult classics, including Batman Forever, The Cable Guy, Liar Liar, and Bruce Almighty, among others.
The 2004 romantic sci-fi movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is considered one of his best performances in a film. In more recent years, he’s appeared in the Sonic the Hedgehog films as Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik. The second of these films will arrive on April 8.
However, in a recent interview, Carrey, 60, revealed that he might be saying goodbye to his acting career, as he enjoys other parts of his life, specifically the “quiet life” and activities like painting.
“I am retiring. I am being fairly serious,” he told Access Hollywood when speaking about Sonic The Hedgehog 2.
“I really like my quiet life, and I really love putting paint on canvas, and I really love my spiritual life, and I feel like—and this is something you might never hear another celebrity say as long as time exists—I have enough,” he said. “I’ve done enough. I am enough,” he said.
Carrey recently made headlines with his critical comments on CBS about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards. Carrey called the Hollywood audience members “spineless” for giving Smith a standing ovation later when he won Best Actor and gave an emotional acceptance speech.
Soon after his comments, a video resurfaced of Carrey’s behavior during the 1997 MTV Movie Awards, where Carrey accepted an award from presenter Alicia Silverstone and forcibly kissed her on stage. While Carrey’s intention then was likely a comedic bit based on his wacky personality, it’s become criticized years later in light of Carrey’s comments about Smith.
One particular film could bring Carrey back
While Carrey seems like he’s ready to walk away from his acting career, he’s mentioned there is a possibility he’d return for the right project.
“It depends,” he said, “if the angels bring some sort of script that’s written in gold ink, that says to me that it’s going to be really important for people to see, I might.”
Carrey said he “might continue down the road” but for now he really is “taking a break” to focus on those other things that he enjoys in his life.
There already is one project that Carrey learned about that could keep him around, a biopic about the legendary Dolly Parton. During his interview with Access Hollywood, Kit Hoover told Carrey that Parton wants him to play her “music partner” Porter Wagoner.
“I will always talk to Dolly. Dolly is, just to me, an other-worldly that is just bigger than you can imagine,” Carrey said.
Last month, Parton revealed that the biopic is currently in talks and said she feels Kristin Chenoweth is the perfect actress to play her.