Carrey gained attention starring in serious roles in The Truman Show (1998) and Man on the Moon (1999), with each garnering him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. In the 2000s, he gained further notice for his portrayal of the Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas and for the comedy Me, Myself & Irene (both in 2000), as well as Bruce Almighty (2003), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), for which he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), Fun with Dick and Jane (2005), Yes Man (2008), Horton Hears a Who! (2008), and A Christmas Carol (2009).
In the 2010s, Carrey starred in Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013), Kick-Ass 2 (2013), and reprised his role as Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber To (2014). Since 2018, he has portrayed Jeff Piccirillo in the Showtime series Kidding and Dr. Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog (2020).