Jim Carrey is a Canadian-American comedian, actor, painter and author, known for Ace Ventura, The Mask, The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. [1] In self-help circles he is best known for his 2014 commencement speech, where he asked graduates to choose love over fear. [2] [3]
Who is Jim Carrey?
James Eugene Carrey was born on January 17, 1962, in Newmarket, Ontario, and grew up in and around Toronto. [1] His father, Percy, was a musician and accountant. [4] At eight, Jim began making faces in the mirror and discovered a talent for impressions. [1]
When his father lost his job, the family went through hard times. Jim left school to help support them and worked for two years as a janitor in a factory. [1] [2] His father helped him put together his first stage act and drove him to his first club gigs in Toronto, where he made his stand-up debut at 15. [4] [5] “He was my champ, my absolute champion,” Jim says. [5]
At 19 he moved to Hollywood. His TV special Jim Carrey: Unnatural Act (1991) led to a regular role on the sketch show In Living Color, and in 1994 Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask and Dumb and Dumber made him a star. [1] He won Golden Globe Awards for The Truman Show (1998) and Man on the Moon (1999), in which he played the comedian Andy Kaufman. [1] The making of that role is the subject of the Netflix documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond. [6]
Later work includes Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), the series Kidding (2018–20) and the Sonic the Hedgehog films, in which he plays Dr. Robotnik. [1] He has also become known for his painting, shown in the 2017 short documentary Jim Carrey: I Needed Color. [1]
In May 2014 he gave the commencement address at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, and received an honorary doctorate. [4] The speech, full of jokes but also personal and searching, is the main source for the ideas below. [2] [3] In 2020 he published Memoirs and Misinformation, a surreal novel written with Dana Vachon. [7]
His ideas in brief
- Love or fear. Every choice comes from one or the other.
- Take a chance on what you love. Safe choices can fail too.
- Serve with your talent. Ask what the world needs that you can give.
- Let the armour go. Look for peace beyond your persona.
At a glance
Known for: Comedy, film, painting, a famous commencement speech
Topics: Love and fear, purpose, identity, creativity, faith
Style: Playful, heartfelt, surreal
Start with: His 2014 commencement speech
Watch: The full commencement speech
Good fit if
You want a funny, heartfelt reminder to follow what you love, serve others with your talent and worry less about what people think.
Our take
Not a teacher or coach, but his commencement speech is one of the most loved talks on purpose and fear. Watch it for the jokes and stay for the ideas.
Jim Carrey’s key ideas
These come from his 2014 commencement speech and interviews. Tap a card to read more.
Love or fear
The heart of the speech is a simple idea. “Fear is going to be a player in your life, but you get to decide how much,” Jim told the graduates. [2]
All there ever is, he said, is what is happening now, “and the decisions we make in this moment, which are based in either love or fear.” [2]
He ended with the line that local news picked out: “you will only ever have two choices: love or fear. Choose love and don’t ever let fear turn you against your playful heart.” [2] [3]
You can fail at what you don’t want
“So many of us choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality,” Jim said. [2]
He told the story of his father, who he believes could have been a great comedian but took a safe job as an accountant instead. When Jim was 12, his father was let go from that safe job. [2]
The lesson he took from it: “you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.” [2]
The Church of Freedom from Concern
Jim watched how his father’s love and humour changed the people around him and thought, “That’s something worth my time.” [2]
At about 28, he realised the purpose of his life had always been “to free people from concern, just like my dad.” He jokingly named this devotion the Church of Freedom from Concern. [2]
He then turned the question to the graduates: “How will you serve the world? What do they need that your talent can provide?” In his view, “the effect you have on others is the most valuable currency there is.” [2]
Beyond the persona
Jim says that once he reached the top of the mountain, “the only one I hadn’t freed was myself.” He began to ask who he would be without his fame. [2]
The peace we are after, he said, lies “beyond personality, beyond the perception of others.” To find it, “you have to let the armor go,” because “your need for acceptance can make you invisible in this world.” [2]
He also warned about the ego’s voice, which compares you to others and “will not let you rest.” His answer: “relax and dream up a good life.” [2]
Life happens for you
A line he repeats is “life doesn’t happen to you, it happens for you.” He is honest about what it means to him. [2]
“I really don’t know if that’s true,” he said. “I’m just making a conscious choice to perceive challenges as something beneficial so that I can deal with them in the most productive way.” [2]
He describes a similar mental “reset” in interviews. When he failed an audition for Saturday Night Live, he told himself that if he could not get in through the front door, he would find another way in. [5]
Open the door in your head
Jim told a childhood story about praying for a bike his family couldn’t afford. Two weeks later he won one in a raffle a friend had entered him into. [2]
He drew a gentle lesson from it: let the universe know what you want and work towards it “while letting go of how it comes to pass.” Your job, he said, is “to open the door in your head and when the door opens in real life, just walk through it.” [2]
He prefers faith to hope: “Hope walks through the fire and faith leaps over it.” [2] [5]
Videos with Jim Carrey
His speech, interviews and documentaries, from official channels where possible.
Start here
In conversation
His memoir
Art and film
Articles about Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey’s books
Jim has written a children’s book and a surreal novel drawn from his own life. [4] [7]
Find his books in your country: US · UK · Canada · Australia · India.
Free resources
Jim does not run courses or a personal website. The best free resource is his commencement speech, which runs about 26 minutes. [2]
What the Research Shows
Jim’s advice to pick a path you love and then work towards it echoes research on goals that fit your values and on simple if-then plans.
- Visualising your best possible self. Regularly imagining your best possible future self raised positive mood over several weeks. [8]
- Simple if-then plans. Deciding in advance exactly when and where you will act makes people much more likely to follow through. [9]
Frequently asked questions
Who is Jim Carrey?
A Canadian-American comedian, actor, painter and author, born in Newmarket, Ontario, in 1962.
What is his famous commencement speech?
His 2014 address at Maharishi University of Management, where he urged graduates to choose love over fear.
What does “freedom from concern” mean?
His name for his life’s purpose: using comedy to free people from worry, as his father did.
What did he say about safe choices?
That you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on what you love.
Does he think life happens for you?
He says he doesn’t know if it’s true, but chooses to see challenges as beneficial.
What books has he written?
How Roland Rolls (2013) and Memoirs and Misinformation (2020), with Dana Vachon.
Where should I start?
Watch the full 2014 commencement speech.
Sources
- Britannica: Jim Carrey
- Jim Carrey: commencement address, Maharishi University of Management, May 2014 (full speech)
- KTVO News: Jim Carrey gives memorable speech at MUM graduation (2014)
- Wikipedia: Jim Carrey
- CBS Sunday Morning: Jim Carrey and his very unusual memoir (2020)
- Netflix: Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond (2017)
- Wikipedia: Memoirs and Misinformation (2020)
- Sheldon and Lyubomirsky, How to increase and sustain positive emotion: The effects of expressing gratitude and visualizing best possible selves, Journal of Positive Psychology 2006
- Gollwitzer, Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans, American Psychologist 1999
By Saj Ali. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will fix it.