ajay amrit
suva

With the Paris Hilton’s and Kim Kardashians of the world hogging the limelight and the fortune and fame that comes with it, sometimes it can be hard to remember truly inspirational rags to riches story.
Today is definitely about the rich daddy syndrome or the right connections especially in the Hollywood and Bollywood entertainment industry.
However, sometimes it is nice to rejoice in story of the underdog who triumphs through trial and tribulation.
By the time he was 14, things went from bad to worse and the whole family ended up living in a caravan, which meant Jim’s mum, dad and his three older siblings were squashed together in their home on wheels.
This led to drastic action and Jim had to quit school.
Furthermore, by the age of 15, he was working as a janitor cleaning toilets and bathrooms for a living.
He was a very angry and desperate teenager indeed as every penny earned had to be saved to get the family back on track.
Carrey did not finish school as he had to work fulltime to help his family survive and also had to help care for his mother who was battling a severe chronic illness.
He remembered those years as being full of frustration because every day was a battle to get his family back on track and have a proper roof over their heads.
Jim’s father wanted to help his son realise his inner dreams of being a comedian and helped him put a stage act together.
His father drove him to Toronto to debut in a comedy club show.
This went down very badly and Jim even thought of giving up his dream and returning to get a regular nine to five job.
Once again he went back to work as the financial struggles caught up with the family again and only when they were in a stronger and more stable financial position, did he return to the stage to try out his comedy act.
This more composed Carrey took the stage by storm and in 1982 at the age of 20, he moved to Hollywood. His talent was God-given and there for all to see.
In 1983, he debuted in the very popular and successful American television show “The Tonight Show”.
For the next 10 years, he slowly but surely built his reputation up and eventually caught the eye of Hollywood executives.
Finally in 1994 at the age of 34-years-old, Carrey shot to stardom with the hit film “Ace Ventura Pet Detective, the film was an instant hit and fame and fortune was guaranteed from this point on.
After this Carrey starred hit after hit movie and became a huge star in the Hollywood film industry.
An interesting story he told Oprah Winfrey while being a guest on her show was that as a poor and struggling comedian, he often visualised a $20,000,000 ($20 million) dollar cheque being given to him for acting in just one film.
He would pretend that he received the cheque and place it in his pocket.
In 1995 he received a $20,000,000 ($20m) cheque for his role in one film “Dumb and Dumber”
This proves that dreams certainly can come true regardless of your colour, creed, sex and your financial situation.

n The writer is a Fiji Sun
columnist.
Feedback: ajayamrit@hotmail.com