Jim Carrey was once the biggest movie star on the planet, after he shot to fame with the triple-header of classic comedy movies – Ace Ventura, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber – which were all released in 1994. Several notorious stories have come out about Carrey sometimes having difficulties on sets – such as the pain he experienced filming How the Grinch Stole Christmas and struggling with the chaos on the set of the best Jim Carrey movie – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Carrey also went extremely in-depth on the set of 1999’s Man on the Moon, remaining in character as Andy Kaufman at all times. He recently reflected on the experience in the Netflix documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond. Something he found relatively easy, however, was perfecting Lloyd’s goofy gap-toothed grin in Dumb and Dumber.
That’s because the grin is in fact, Carrey’s own. In 1995, he told Entertainment Weekly that the chipped front tooth which he sports in the movie is real. “Clark La Prairie jumped on my head in grade school detention,” says Carrey, explaining the source of the old injury. “The nuns sent me home with my tooth in an envelope.”
So when Carrey decided that his irregular chomper would complement his character’s goofy grin, he had his cap removed. “De Niro gains weight. I file my teeth off.”
Carrey’s career has slowed down significantly since his run of 2000s movies, with him only making three movies between 2014-2020 – one of which was Dumb and Dumber To. His recently reappeared as Doctor Robotnik in the two Sonic the Hedgehog movies, and has suggested that he may now be retired altogether.
While we wait to find out if we’ll ever see Carrey in another movie project, check out our guide to the best 90s movies.