New Line Cinema
Jeff Daniels has worked with acclaimed movie directors such as Milos Forman, James L. Brooks, Mike Nicholas, Woody Allen, Jonathan Demme, Aaron Sorkin, Noah Baumbach, Danny Boyle, Rian Johnson, Ridley Scott, and many more.
The 69-year-old film, television and stage actor has been nominated for three Tony Awards, five SAG awards, and five Golden Globes.
This is undeniable the resume of a “serious” actor, which is what Daniels has built a career on being. Except for that one movie that one time: Dumb and Dumber (and its sequel, but the less we talk about that, the better).
Back when Daniels starred in the beloved Jim Carrey-led comedy, he was far from the household name he is told, having only been working in Hollywood for a little more than a decade.
And because he was trying to establish himself as a “serious actor,” his agents advised him against starring in Dumb and Dumber, which ultimately became one of the most iconic comedies of the decade and one of the defining roles of his career.
“I had agents, who weren’t wrong, telling me, ‘You’re a serious actor. This is not the direction you need to be going. We’re going to stop this and get you off this movie,'” Daniels recently recalled in an interview with USA Today while promoting his new Netflix series A Man in Full.
“But I wanted to shake it up with a comedy. And I wanted to work with Jim Carrey…It’s one thing to read the toilet scene, but then the day comes, and we’re actually going to do the toilet scene. I told Jim [Carrey], ‘This is either the beginning of my career or the end of it.’ Jim, who is fearless, told me, ‘It’s going to be great. You’ve just got to go all the way with it.’”
As mentioned above, Daniels would eventually reprise his role as Harry Dunne in 2014’s Dumb and Dumber To.