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How Acting Helps Jim Carrey Turn His Pain Into 'Something Beautiful' (Exclusive)

By Scott Baumgartner‍ 11:42 AM PDT, October 29, 2018

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When it comes to making lemonade out of lemons, Jim Carrey is a true master.

ET's Ashley Crossan caught up with the beloved comedian at the Britannia Awards at the Beverly Hilton on Friday, Oct. 26, where he accepted the Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy. On the red carpet, he opened up about taking life’s challenges and hardships and turning them into art.

“It's a tremendous honor,” he stated. “It's unfathomable to me that life somehow ended up in this direction and at this place of, you know, being able to do something -- alchemize our pain and turn it into something beautiful and be recognized as well for it is an incredible thing. But, you know, right now my job has always been, I thought, to free people from concern and that is part of the job of a comedian, an artist, but it's also his job to focus on things that are problematic, you know? At times of trouble.”

The 56-year-old comedian also discussed pivoting from his acclaimed role as Jeff, a kids TV show host on Kidding, to Dr. Robotnik, the nefarious villain in the upcoming feature film adaptation of the video game Sonic the Hedgehog.

“I get to go from playing the nicest person in the world to the smartest person in the world who is completely not the nicest person in the world,” he explained. “So it's nice, it's very diverse!”