Jim Carrey makes emotional admission claiming ‘he doesn’t exist’ and has always been a ‘character’

Jim Carrey once said that he 'doesn't exist' after claiming he has always 'been a character'.

Carrey, now 62, has been a household name for decades, taking on heaps of iconic characters, including Ace Ventura, the Grinch, Bruce Nolan and Hank Evans.

He's had a seriously impressive career, but recently claimed he 'doesn't exist' and has always been one of his many characters.

Carrey once said he 'didn't exist' (Gilbert Flores/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images)

Back in 2017, Carrey sat down with TIFF, where he spoke about his career. During the chat, he claimed that 'Jim Carrey' is one of the many characters he's played over the years.

"I don't exist, they're all characters that I played, including Jim Carrey, including Joel Barish," he said.

"They're all characters. Jim Carrey was a less intentional character because I thought I was just building something people would like, but it was a character.

"I played the guy who was free from concern so that people who watched me would be free from concern.

"... Depression is your body saying 'f**k you, I don't want to be this character anymore, I don't want to hold up this avatar you've created, it's too much for me'."

In a separate chat during a New York Fashion Week red carpet interview - also in 2017 - Carrey echoed a similar sentiment, telling the reporter: “There is no me. There are just things happening.

“Here’s the thing. It’s not our world. We don’t matter. There’s the good news.”

However, he later clarified what he meant.

Speaking at the Toronto International Film Festival, he told TheWrap: “As an actor you play characters, and if you go deep enough into those characters, you realise your own character is pretty thin to begin with. You suddenly have this separation and go, 'Who’s Jim Carrey? Oh, he doesn’t exist actually'."

Carrey spoke about his many characters (Focus Features)

He continued: “There’s just a relative manifestation of consciousness appearing, and someone gave him a name, a religion, a nationality, and he clustered those together into something that’s supposed to be a personality, and it doesn’t actually exist. None of that stuff, if you drill down, is real.

“I believe I got famous so I could let go of fame, and it’s still happening, but not with me. I’m not a part of it anymore. Dressing happens, doing hair happens, interviewing happens, but it happens without me, without the idea of a ‘me.’ You know what I’m saying?

"It’s a weird little semantic jump, and it’s not that far, but it’s a universe apart from where most people are.”