Jim Carrey has said he took a step back from Hollywood because he “just didn’t want to be in the business any more”.

The comic actor, 56, has taken fewer roles in the last few years and instead focused on his art, but now has a new TV series called Kidding.

Speaking about his break from the acting world, he told The Hollywood Reporter: “I just didn’t want to be in the business any more.

“I didn’t like what was happening, the corporations taking over and all that.

“And maybe it’s because I felt pulled toward a different type of creative outlet and I really liked the control of painting – of not having a committee in the way telling me what the idea must be to appeal to a four-quadrant whatever.”

Although Carrey, 56, is starring in Kidding, he said: “I’m not back in the same way.

“I don’t feel I’m little Jim trying to hang on to a place in the stratosphere any more — I don’t feel like I’m trying to hold on to anything.”

The star also reflected on his childhood and getting his break in the wide-ranging interview.

He told how fame had not been what he expected.

“There’s a weightlessness to it,” he said.

“You can dream about it all you want, but until you get it, you don’t realise that it’s really not a place that’s very comfortable for very long.”