Thanks to the pitch-perfect casting decision that made Alan Ritchson the star of Reacher, the Amazon series based on the best-selling novels by Lee Child, the actor has seen his star considerably rise on the heels of the show’s second season.

When he’s not making co-hosts on The View swoon, he’s starring in Guy Ritchie movies and lining up projects with the biggest action star on the planet: Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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However, Ritchson isn’t shy about his humble and sometimes dorky beginnings. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the towering actor that he was once wildly obsessed with one of Jim Carrey’s most famous characters: Ace Ventura.

“He was my hero,” says Ritchson. “When Ace Ventura came out [in 1994], I was in sixth grade, and I was enamored. He was so physical, goofy and unafraid. I’d never seen anything like it. I dressed up as Ace Ventura for three Halloweens in a row.

I showed up to school and wouldn’t break character the entire time. I had the hair, the business card and I would walk up to people at their lunch tables and say, ‘Excuse me, I’d like to ass you a few questions,’” he says. “People hated it, but I love that it made most people laugh. Jim Carrey knew how to do that and it’s a gift.”

Before making it big in Hollywood, Ritchson actually had a brief encounter with his hero. Carrey was in Seaside, Florida filming The Truman Show, which was close to where Ritchson was living at the time. Along with his mom and brother, a young Ritchson posted up near the town square where he almost scored an autograph of the beloved actor.

“We waited for him to come out of his trailer,” Ritchson told THR. “My mom spotted him and went, ‘There he is!’ I unveiled my poster and said, ‘Hey, Jim!’ He looked over and did this big belly laugh by arching his spine backwards. My brother and I ran over to him, but a security guard was there.”

According to Ritchson, that’s the closest he’s been to Carrey since, but maybe his luck will change. He’s Reacher now. Who doesn’t want to meet Reacher?