TruthBook Religious News Blog

HIS rubber-faced antics have helped make him one of the most successful comics in the world. But life hasn't always been one big laugh for Jim Carrey.

The Hollywood star only stumbled into comedy because of a family catastrophe which still haunts him. When he was just 12 his father lost his job and times were so tough the Carrey clan were forced to sleep in a camper van.

It was young Jim who turned the family fortunes around when he dropped out of school and started performing a stand-up act in clubs. And although he's gone on to become one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood, he says he can't forget those early dark days.

"We hit the skids and we lost everything," he says, displaying a rare, serious side. "It wasn't really about losing your stuff, it's how the neighbours look at you. I saw what that does to a family very early on and it changed me.

"It gave me an edge which I use all the time. Everything painful that happens to you in your life becomes the tools that you use when you're doing a part. You don't ever think of it at the time. I wish you could.

"I wish when you had your heart ripped out by somebody, and you're gutted and laying on a rock somewhere, and seagulls are carrying away your pancreas, I wish you could say, 'This is going to be good someday. I'm going to use this'," he adds, reverting to his trademark manic grin.

But though his own poverty-stricken days are far behind him - he now commands more than 20 million dollars a movie thanks to a string of box office hits, including The Truman Show and The Mask - the star insists money hasn't brought him happiness.

"Everybody should get rich and famous and have everything they ever dreamed of so they can see it's not the answer," he says.

Instead he says it's only his quest for spirituality which has brought him genuine fulfilment.

"I think somehow maybe I just have grandiose thoughts, have the desire to be a great soul at some point," he smiles.

The star also says being a dad to 19-year-old Jane is one of his greatest joys.

"Even just a moment with my daughter will make me happy," he says.

"I work a lot but I have a very peaceful home," he says. "I'm very quiet there, and I love to have my friends over for dinners and do things with my daughter. My house is very Zen and a very quiet place. It's difficult to get me out of there."

Even so, he's still one of the most in-demand stars in the world and though he never has to worry about working again, he says he won't rest on his laurels.

"I'm in it for the long haul," he says. "Sometimes I think that God is somehow fashioning it so that I do stay interested and do stay hungry. That's why I might not get certain things. I like to keep having to prove myself."