The 1994 buddy comedy, Dumb and Dumber was both a commercial success and a genuine hit in pop culture. The cross-country adventure involving a suitcase full of mysterious money took Lloyd and Harry from Providence, Rhode Island to Aspen, Colorado. Every mile they traveled was full of laughs, hijinks, and fittingly dumb decisions that would make any road trip just as zany as this one was. After all these years, it’s still not clear who was actually the “dumb” or the “dumber” in this one but with a movie containing so much silly buffoonery, who cares?
It was a movie that put many of the cast members on the map during the mid-1990s, even though it certainly was never going to win any Oscars. It starred Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in the lead roles, both of them actors that the general public was already familiar with prior to the film’s production. Their careers took off further from there and even the supporting cast went on to other things after the successful release of the movie.
Where are they now? What has everyone been up to since then?
Jim Carrey as Lloyd Christmas
Already well-known from his time as a cast member on the legendary Fox comedy sketch show In Living Color, Jim Carrey continued his ascent into superstardom with his role in this movie. He was already riding high off of the recent success of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Mask in 1994 when the opportunity to let his comedic talents in this film came calling. He was even instrumental in getting Jeff Daniels to eventually take the co-starring role as Harry in the movie.
Since then, Carrey continued to star in hit after hit with Batman Forever, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, and Liar, Liar. He also took slightly more serious roles in The Truman Show and Man on the Moon, earning Golden Globes for those two films, and that was all before the year 2000. After the turn of the century, he played the Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas and then starred in Me, Myself & Irene, along with Bruce Almighty.
He’s been a draw to movie box offices consistently over the last few decades and continued that appeal into the last several years with appearances in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, Kick-Ass 2, and a sequel to Dumb and Dumber called, Dumb and Dumber To. Most recently, he did very well as Dr. Robotnik in both the first Sonic the Hedgehog live-action movie and its sequel from earlier this year.
Jeff Daniels as Harry Dunne
With strong influences from the filmmakers and his eventual co-star Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels accepted an offer to take the role of Harry in Dumb and Dumber. Compared to the roles he had prior to this movie, playing Harry was considered against the grain despite the comedies he previously appeared in. He was more known for his roles in Ragtime, Terms of Endearment, Heartburn, Arachnophobia, and the action hit Speed, which was released six months before Dumb and Dumber hit theaters.
After the mid-nineties, Daniels starred in Pleasantville, The Hours, Infamous, Looper, and The Martian, in addition to reuniting with Carrey for the aforementioned sequel Dumb and Dumber To. In between his movie roles, he also had notable television and stage roles in works like The Newsroom, for which he won an Emmy Award, and a few Tony Award nominations for appearing in Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage, David Harrower’s Blackbird, and Aaron Sorkin’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
He most recently narrated 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room, in 2021 and is currently serving as the executive director of the Chelsea, Michigan Purple Rose Theatre Company, a theater company that he founded himself.
Lauren Holly as Mary Swanson
Before starring in this movie, Lauren Holly had worked mainly on television in small roles before playing the role of Julie Rand Chandler for four seasons on the legendary ABC soap opera All My Children. She then made it big thanks to landing one of the lead roles in the CBS drama Picket Fences. In fact, she was still acting in that series while playing the role of Mary in Dumb and Dumber.
Toward the late nineties, Holly actually married Jim Carrey but that was short-lived. She would go on to appear in the 1996 comedy Down Periscope followed by a supporting role in the Oliver Stone football drama Any Given Sunday. She also maintained some tv work as a regular cast member during the final season of the CBS medical drama Chicago Hope. Her next big role came in 2005 when she would play Director Jenny Shepard on NCIS for four seasons. Since then, she’s acted here and there in some productions both in the U.S. and Canada but was most recently seen in a Canadian law drama called Family Law that premiered in 2021.
Michael Starr as Joe “Mental” Mentalino
Character actor Michael Starr had appeared in a number of well-known movies from the eighties and nineties that we’d all remember. He was seen in hits like The Natural, The Last Dragon, Lean on Me, Uncle Buck, The Bodyguard, and The Hudsucker Proxy, but perhaps most remembered as “Frenchy” in the 1990 mafia classic Goodfellas. In Dumb and Dumber though, he played a tough but unlucky henchman that was oddly at the mercy of Harry and Lloyd.
After his work in that movie, he’s gone on to continue his numerous appearances in films like Clockers, Snake Eyes, The Black Dahlia, and Bad Santa 2. His last credited film role was in 2016, but he’s made more recent appearances in TV shows such as Chicago Fire, Ray Donovan, and Shameless as recently as 2019.
Karen Duffy as J.P. Shay
Karen Duffy was quite recognizable during the 1990s, helping her earn a role in Dumb and Dumber. A year before being cast in the movie, she was included as one of People Magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People” in 1993. Despite her small stature as henchwoman J.P. Shay, next to her co-star Michael Starr, she still held her own and was lucky enough to not meet the same fate as Starr’s “Mental” Mentalino.
Just before appearing in this movie, Duffy had a big role in the semi-forgotten Disney comedy Blank Check, which was also released in 1994. However, in 1995, she was diagnosed with neurosarcoidosis, a rare form of the disease sarcoidosis, rendering her partially paralyzed. She was able to eventually continue working as a host on the TLC show House of Tiny Terrors, and as a co-host of the Live Earth telecast on the Bravo Channel. She has also written some best-selling books, Model Patient: My Life as an Incurable Wise-Ass and Backbone: Living With Chronic Pain Without Turning Into One, in an effort to bring awareness to living with her incurable disease.
Charles Rocket as Nicholas Andre
Originally known as Charles Adams Claverie, he went by the stage name Charles Rocket mainly during his time as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. He was one of the lead guys on the show during the 1980-81 season. After a quick exit, Rocket managed to find more work in movies like Earth Girls Are Easy, the first time he appeared with Jim Carrey, and How I Got into College, during the eighties. In addition to those opportunities, he also made small appearances on the popular 1980s sci-fi show Max Headroom as well as the hit ABC sitcom Moonlighting.
He continued to work steadily in the nineties with supporting roles in Dances with Wolves, Hocus Pocus, and It’s Pat on the big screen, before being cast in Dumb and Dumber as the sneaky antagonist Nicholas Andre. On television, he appeared on the hit NBC sitcoms Wings and 3rd Rock from the Sun and The Home Court. He even got into voice acting from the late nineties and into the new century with roles in Batman Beyond, The Zeta Project, Titan A.E., and Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, would be his final film role before passing away unexpectedly in 2005.
Teri Garr as Helen Swanson
Veteran actress Teri Garr played Helen, Mary’s stepmother in the movie. Before Dumb and Dumber though, she had some big roles, first in an original episode of Star Trek in 1968. In 1974, she had a supporting role in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation, but really got noticed when she played Inga in Mel Brooks’ comedy Young Frankenstein that same year. Another big performance came in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, followed by an Oscar-nominated role in Tootsie, and a lead role in Mr. Mom.
Along with her side role in Dumb and Dumber, Garr also appeared in The Player, Ready to Wear, Michael, and Ghost World before stepping away from performing in 2002, due to health complications related to a multiple sclerosis diagnosis. However, in 2007, she returned to acting in films, with a few roles in some low-budget video releases as well as some small appearances on TV.
Victoria Rowell as Beth Jordan
Rowell was originally a dancer until her first film role in Leonard Part 6. A few years later, she was a cast regular on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless, a role she would play for 16 seasons. While enjoying her success as a popular soap actress, she also found the time to appear in another CBS show called Diagnosis Murder, from 1993 to 2001.
During all that time on tv, she also appeared in The Distinguished Gentlemen, alongside Eddie Murphy, then in her role as a talkative bar patron who was actually undercover, following the same suitcase Harry and Lloyd had in Dumb and Dumber. After that resume-boosting project, she gained small film roles in Barb Wire, Eve’s Bayou, Motives, and Home of the Brave while working on television.
She’s been kept busy over the last several years, having written books related to the world of daytime television, as well as steady work with small roles in numerous TV movies and shows.
Harland Williams as the motorcycle police officer
Harland Williams actually made his movie debut in Dumb and Dumber as the arrogant highway patrol cop who took a sip of…something that doesn’t usually belong in a beer bottle. Before this brief appearance, he was doing a lot of work as a stand-up comic in the U.S. and Canada before making the jump to acting.
After Dumb and Dumber, his career began to gain steam with a starring role in Simon, a short-lived sitcom on the WB. He also took the lead role in the Disney live-action comedy Rocketman, then Half Baked, There’s Something About Mary, The Whole Nine Yards, Freddy Got Fingered, and Sorority Boys. Over the last several years, his voice talents have kept him working consistently with roles in Gary & Mike, Robots, Meet the Robinsons, Family Guy, Robot Chicken, Sausage Party, and Puppy Dog Pals, an animated Disney series that he created himself that’s still on the air.
Cam Neely as Sea Bass
Former NHL player Cam Neely gets at least an honorable mention here. He’s likely only remembered by sports fans as a great hockey player that made an appearance as a disgruntled trucker who got hit with a salt shaker. But Neely actually had acting experience coming from a cameo as himself in D2: The Mighty Ducks, which was released months before Dumb and Dumber.
He was still an active player then for the Boston Bruins, retiring from pro hockey two years later in 1996. He appeared in a couple more Jim Carrey movies, namely Me, Myself & Irene as and Dumb and Dumber To. He also appeared in Denis Leary’s FX firefighting drama series Rescue Me. In 2005, Neely was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and is now currently the president of his former team, the Boston Bruins.
