Carrey, then a cast member on Fox TV sketch comedy show “In Living Color,” had a character called Overly Confident Gay Man, who is the source of Ace Ventura’s unique voice and catchphrase “All righty, then.” It was when Carrey read the script in that voice that the character came alive for him.

The mental hospital where Ventura goes undercover was named Shady Acres as a play on the name of director Tom Shadyac.

Both director Tom Shadyac and Carrey felt this movie could end their film careers.

Death metal band Cannibal Corpse appears in the movie because of Carrey. Cannibal Corpse performed their song, “Hammer Smashed Face” because the Buffalo, New York band was a favorite of Carrey’s in his younger days.

If Ace’s curly pompadour and colorful shirts suggest a flamboyantly-feathered bird, that’s no accident. Carrey said on “Inside the Actors Studio” that he created Ace’s gestures by studying the way birds move.

He said he later learned from Anthony Hopkins that he had done the same thing to create Hannibal Lecter, only with reptiles.

Jim Carrey had his own personal chef on the set of the film, who also was required to prepare meals for Carrey’s pet iguana.

There are a few clues early in the film that Lt. Einhorn (Sean Young) is really a man. First, there’s her name, which means “unicorn” in German; you don’t need to be Freud to figure out that symbol.

Then there’s the suggestive placement of two apples and a banana on her desk.

“Ace Ventura” was just the beginning of a tremendous breakthrough year for Carrey. In mid-1994, he had another starring role, in the hit “The Mask.” And at the end of the year came a huge, career-defining role in “Dumb and Dumber.”

Yet, while ‘Ace Ventura’ was a breakthrough for Carrey, he still managed to earn the award for ‘Worst New Star’ that year.

Replacement kicker Ray Finkle is actually Dolphin’s kicker Uwe von Schamann. In the movie Ace discovers Ray Finkle was to blame for the missed field goal that cost the Dolphins the Super Bowl after learning that Finkle was a mid-season replacement. The actual game footage is from a 1984 clip of Uwe von Schamann.

None of the Ventura films have been popular with critics and the original was no exception. It pulled in a score of 45% on Rotten Tomatoes and was called a “long, unfunny slog through an impenetrable plot” by Roger Ebert.

None of that mattered though to the public and the movie made back more than six times its budget of $15 million at the U.S. box office.

Courteney Cox landed the role, which hit theaters just months before the premiere of TV’s “Friends” made her a huge star.

Ace Ventura’s “talking ass” came from In Living Color. According to director Tom Shadyac, he saw Carrey goofing around with his talking ass gag on the set of In Living Color and mentioned to him that he thought it would play well in the movie.

Tone Loc was the biggest actor in the movie. As strange as it seems now, Tone Loc was the biggest name in the cast upon filming the movie.

Jim Carrey wasn’t the first choice for Ace Ventura. As difficult as it is to imagine another actor in the Ace Ventura role, Carrey wasn’t the studio’s first choice. Actor Rick Moranis was approached about the part, but chose to turn it down and do the live-action version of The Flintstones instead.

Ventura’s landlord is named after the landlord of the apartment building Jim Carrey grew-up in. Ventura has a contentious relationship with his landlord Mr. Shickadance, which is probably somewhat similar to Carrey’s own childhood.

Those shiners on Randall ‘Tex” Cobb in the opening sequence weren’t makeup. In the commentary for the movie, director Tom Shadyac notes that actor and former heavyweight boxer Randall Cobb showed up to the set with bruises under both eyes. It was decided not to try and cover them with makeup and just film him as he was

The Super Bowl as shown at the end of the film is between the Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles.