Jim Carrey was once paid nothing for one of his biggest movie roles.
The 61-year-old actor is known for hit films such as Dumb & Dumber, The Mask, Ace Ventura and Liar Liar.
He’s also amassed a net worth of around $180 million, making him one of the richest comedians in the business.
However, many fans don’t realise that the actor took a big risk and made one of his highest-grossing films without taking a salary.
The Sonic the Hedgehog star decided to do something a little bit different in 2008 instead of just taking a straight pay cheque.
Carrey decided to star in the comedy Yes Man and took a huge gamble that definitely paid off in the end.
The film is about a lonely man who changes his life after meeting a ‘self-esteem’ guru, which prompts him to say yes to everything.
It is loosely based on the 2005 memoir of the same name written by humorist and comedian Danny Wallace.
Carrey made the seemingly odd choice to decline any cash upfront for his role in the movie.
Instead, the comedian negotiated to be paid 36.2% of the film’s profits.
The move was said to be ‘an enormous risk’ for the actor as he was coming off the back of flops such as The Number 23 and Fun with Dick and Jane.
However, this gamble paid off as the star would bag one of the biggest paydays of his career.
The film was a box office hit and grossed $223 million against a budget of $70 million.
It also became one of the actor’s highest-grossing movies.
This saw him bring in a massive payday of between $30 million and $50 million.
However, the Ace Ventura actor doesn’t always get it right, as Carrey has admitted that there is one movie he regrets making.
In 2013, he starred in Kick-Ass 2 as the unhinged, patriotic, baseball bat-wielding vigilante Colonel Stars and Stripes.
However, a month before the film was set to hit cinemas, one of the worst mass shootings in US history took place.
A gunman tragically opened fire in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and killed 26 people.
This prompted Carrey to take to Twitter and withdraw his support for the movie.
He wrote: “I did Kick-Ass a month before Sandy Hook and now, in all good conscience, I cannot support that level of violence.”
He added: “I meant to say my apologies to others involved with the film.
“I am not ashamed of it, but recent events have caused a change in my heart.”
