Jim Carrey’s first movie is a little classic called Copper Mountain. It’s about two friends who go to a Colorado ski resort. Carrey plays a womanizer, while Alan Thicke just wants to hit the doggone slopes. It came out in 1983; 11 years later, Carrey would supplant Mr. Seaver as the world’s most famous Canadian comedian (SORRY, Tom Green). In 1994 alone, Carrey starred in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber, three comedies that children of a certain generation will hail as all-time classics. Carrey would have other super-successful years (1995, Batman Forever and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls; 2000, Me, Myself, & Irene and Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas; 2004, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events; 2013, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone and Kick-Ass 2, I guess), but it’s hard to top this.

A film-by-film breakdown of his 1994:

–Ace Ventura: Pet Detective first hit #1 on February 6th, then repeated the feat in three non-consecutive weekends (Steven Seagal’s On Deadly Ground is what prevented the sweep). Not adjusted for inflation, it cost $15 million to film and made $107 million worldwide.

–The Mask topped the box office chart on July 31st, an impressive feat considering it was competing against The Lion King, Forrest Gump, and Black Beauty. It made its $23 million budget back many times over, with $351 million worth of people paying to go chick-chicky-boom wit Cuban Pete.

-Meanwhile, Dumb and Dumber, which Box Office Mojo tells me is the fifth highest “slacker/stoner” movie of all-time, closed out the year as the number-one film for three straight weeks, collecting $247 million on a $17 million budget, or less than Jim Carrey’s salary for The Cable Guy alone.

Here are some other very famous actors and actresses who, since 1990, have had at least two top grossing films in the same 12 months (not including voiceover roles).

Catherine O’Hara, 1990

–Dick Tracy and Home Alone

Joe Pesci, 1990

–Goodfellas and Home Alone

Robin Williams, 1991

–Dead Again, The Fisher King, and Hook

Robert De Niro, 1991

–Backdraft and Cape Fear

Joe Pesci, 1992

–Lethal Weapon 3 and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Wesley Snipes, 1992

–White Men Can’t Jump and Passenger 57

Sylvester Stallone, 1993

–Cliffhanger and Demolition Man

Chris Farley, 1995

–Billy Madison and Tommy Boy

Dan Aykroyd, 1995

–Casper and Tommy Boy

Tom Cruise, 1996

–Mission: Impossible and Jerry Maguire

Nicolas Cage, 1997

–Con Air and Face/Off

Gary Oldman, 1997

–The Fifth Element and Air Force One

Tom Hanks, 1998

–Saving Private Ryan and You’ve Got Mail

Liam Neeson, 1999

–The Haunting and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Julia Roberts, 2001

–The Mexican and Ocean’s Eleven

Gene Hackman, 2001

–Heartbreakers and The Mexican

Mel Gibson, 2002

–Signs and We Were Soldiers

Keanu Reeves, 2003

–The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions

Johnny Depp, 2003

–Once Upon a Time In Mexico and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Dustin Hoffman, 2004

–Meet the Fockers and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events

Gary Oldman, 2005

–Batman Begins and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Hugh Jackman, 2006

–The Prestige and X-Men: The Last Stand

Nicolas Cage, 2007

–Ghost Rider and National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Matt Damon, 2007

–The Bourne Ultimatum and Ocean’s Thirteen

Robert Downey, Jr., 2008

–Iron Man and Tropic Thunder

Sandra Bullock, 2009

–The Proposal and The Blind Side

Woody Harrelson, 2009

–2012 and Zombieland

Leonardo DiCaprio, 2010

–Shutter Island and Inception

Robert De Niro, 2011

–Limitless and New Year’s Eve

Kristen Stewart, 2012

–Snow White and the Huntsman and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2

Channing Tatum, 2012

–The Vow and 21 Jump Street

Jeremy Renner, 2012

–The Avengers and The Bourne Legacy

Mark Wahlberg, 2012

–Contraband and Ted

Liam Neeson, 2012

–The Grey, The Dark Knight Rises, and Taken 2

Jessica Chastain, 2013

–Zero Dark Thirty and Mama

Harrison Ford, 2013

–42 and Ender’s Game

Dwayne Johnson, 2013

–G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Pain and Gain, and Fast & Furious 6

Kevin Hart, 2014

–Ride Along and Think Like a Man Too

Shailene Woodley, 2014

–Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars

Scarlett Johansson, 2014

–Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Lucy

Mark Wahlberg, 2014

–Lone Survivor and Transformers: Age of Extinction

That list is in no way definitive, and I’m sure there’s some character actor who was in Transformers, Harry Potter, Twilight, and Fast Five, but you get the idea: of the many famous faces above, only three have had a trio of number one movies in the same year. That would be Robin Williams, Liam Neeson, and Dwayne Johnson. What they achieved is remarkable, no question, BUT Neeson and Johnson were aided by starring in established franchises and sequels, while Williams’ part in Dead Again is fairly small; no one went to see that movie because of him. Unlike Ace, The Mask (which was based on a comic, but I doubt most people knew that; plus, comic movies weren’t a sure thing then like they are now), and Dumb and Dumber, all of which raked in millions because audiences couldn’t get enough Jim Carrey.