Entry No. 7:

 When Comedy Gets Serious: Jim Carrey

There have been countless actors that you can only picture as one character. I'll only see Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter. Ewan McGregor IS Obi-Wan Kenobi. Other actors aren't one character but are typecasted into genre-specific roles. This is true in all genres of film, but it's the most unsettling when a comedic actor stars in a serious role in a dramatic movie. 

Robin Williams kills it in Good Will Hunting. I've already praised Uncut Gems and specifically Adam Sandler's performance. Steve Carrell as John du Pont in Foxcatcher was memorable.

Enter Jim Carrey. The king of comedy in the 90s came out with Ace Ventura, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber... ALL IN ONE YEAR. He's been a top dog in Hollywood for decades and I've seen countless films starring him, but one stands apart. Carrey has portrayed characters in serious projects before, like The Truman Show and Man on the Moon, but they're not as notable as the story of Joel Barish.

IMG Source - https://i.insider.com/5e4d25346ad9f306b1175123?width=700&format=jpeg&auto=webp

Ten years after Carrey dominated 1994 with three blockbusters, Michael Gondry came out with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, starring Carrey and Titanic's Kate Winslet. The romantic drama between the two is emotional enough based on the actors' chemistry on set, and the plot allows the audience to grow fonder and fonder of the two as they fight to hold onto love. 

Seeing Carrey tear up, feel sadness and grief, and deal with negativity is almost an oxymoron to first-time viewers of the movie. Everyone knows him as the star in Hollywood with the crazy faces and wild improvisations, not as the depressing and thought-provoking actor.

Yet, it was lauded as the most poignant and significant role in his career. The film won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and Carrey received both a Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nomination.

When someone gets typecast into being a specific type of actor, it's hard to break that trend. It's been done before by highly talented stars, and it'll continue to happen. However, I don't know if anyone's going to top Carrey.