Jim Carrey has spent decades making audiences laugh, but lately, he’s been asking bigger questions—about identity, pain and what it means to create. As more celebrities get more open about mental health and the realities behind fame, Carrey’s reflections over the years have stood out for their vulnerability and depth.
In a resurfaced viral clip from the TIFF Long Take podcast, Carrey opened up about how he’s wrestled with his identity and career, getting existential about what it means to be himself — or anyone, for that matter.
“I don’t exist,” Carrey said. “So they’re all characters that I played — including Jim Carrey, including Joel Barish, including any of those things. They’re all characters.”
He goes on to explain that even the public version of “Jim Carrey” was something he created.
“Jim Carrey was a less intentional character, right?” he said. “Because I thought I was just building something that people would like. But it was a character. I played the guy that was free from concerns so that people who watched me would be free from concern, you know?”
Carrey’s willingness to be vulnerable about his career and purpose has come up in other settings as well. During a Hollywood Reporter comedy roundtable with Sacha Baron Cohen, Don Cheadle and others, he discussed how he channels pain into creativity.
“Every trauma — and I could build a ladder to the stars with the things that have happened or the things that I’ve had to endure — but they’ve all turned into something really creative,” he said. “The worst injury I’ve ever had, I went to the art studio and I made a painting. I wish people could be here to see what that process is, what happens to an artist when they get hurt. They don’t try to lash out most of the time. They try to turn it into a bouquet of flowers. That’s what I want to do.”
Whether through comedy, art or reflection, Carrey continues to search for meaning, and for ways to turn hardship into something worthwhile.
