Adam Sandler

Actor

• Born: September 9, 1966
• Place of Birth: New York City, New York

ACTOR, SINGER, SCREENWRITER, AND PRODUCER

Sandler turned class-clown popularity into entertainment success on stage, on television, on comedy albums, and especially in films.

AREA OF ACHIEVEMENT: Entertainment

Early Life

Adam Richard Sandler was born on September 9, 1966, in Brooklyn, New York, to electrical engineer Stanley and nursery school teacher Judy. When Sandler was five, the family moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, where Sandler and his older siblings, Scott, Valerie, and Elizabeth, were raised in a Jewish family in a small-town, working-class environment. For reasons elusive even to him, Sandler, by the end of the sixth grade, had become the class clown for a receptive audience of his peers and had begun to develop his hallmark humor. By the age of seventeen, Sandler was performing stand-up in clubs and at universities on a regular basis. He performed as a street musician, doing Bruce Springsteen numbers, and at the same time managed to attend classes at New York University (NYU).

Before graduating in 1991 with a bachelor of fine arts degree, Sandler found his way into the entertainment industry. In 1987, his freshman year at NYU, he landed a recurring role as Smitty, friend to Theo Huxtable, on The Cosby Show (1984). Sandler’s first film role, two years later, was in the unreleased Babes Ahoy. However, it was his stand-up work, which he took to the clubs of Los Angeles, that gave Sandler his big break. When comedian Dennis Miller saw Sandler performing, he referred Sandler to Saturday Night Live creator and producer Lorne Michaels.

Life’s Work

Once Sandler auditioned for Saturday Night Live, he was on his way to comedic renown. First, he was hired to write for the show. A year later, he was performing, playing, and singing songs that would become classic Sandler bits, such as “Lunchlady Land” and “The Chanukah Song.” Sandler also created his lowbrow characters, such as Canteen Boy, Cajun Man, Opera Man, and Tony Villancourt, establishing his comedic reputation. His schoolboy humor was once again a hit. Sandler applied his talent to comedy albums, recording eight chart toppers, and to films, starting with Coneheads (1993), Mixed Nuts (1994), and Airheads (1994).

After low ratings and cast clashes, Sandler was fired from Saturday Night Live, but he continued to perform, costar, and star in smash hits, including Billy Madison (1995) and Happy Gilmore (1996). The Wedding Singer (1998), however, earned Sandler recognition as an actor; he played a complex character, more than just a comic buffoon. His appeal expanding beyond the youth and adolescent audience, Sandler began to attract fans among female filmgoers. He then costarred in such exceptionally well-received films as Big Daddy (1999) with Jon Stewart, Punch-Drunk Love (2002) with Emily Watson, and Anger Management (2003) with Jack Nicholson

In 1999, Sandler founded a television and film production company, Happy Madison Productions. Happy Madison began producing and coproducing comic films featuring Sandler, but it also generated films starring or costarring his friends, including several former Saturday Night Live repertory players, such as Rob Schneider in The Animal (2001), The Hot Chick (2002), and the Deuce Bigalow hits (1999 and 2005); David Spade in Joe Dirt (2001) and Dickie Roberts (2003); and Dana Carvey in The Master of Disguise (2002). Sandler is a devoted friend who also has produced the films in which several other longtime comedian friends have starred, including Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009), starring Kevin James, and Grown Ups (2010), starring Sandler, James, Chris Rock, Schneider, and Spade; this latter cast returned for Grown Ups 2 in 2013. Sandler retained his relationship with college friend Tim Herlihy, who served as head cowriter with Sandler for most of his Happy Madison films.

Sandler also starred in substantive comedies showcasing his acting range, including the highly respected Funny People (2009), in which Sandler played the antagonistic comic George Simmons, who is diagnosed with a terminal illness. He also starred with Jennifer Aniston in the romantic comedy Just Go with It (2011), and with Drew Barrymore in another romantic comedy, Blended (2014). In 2012, Sandler lent his voice to the lead character in the animated family film Hotel Transylvania, alongside Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, and David Spade. He reprised the role in the sequels Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015) and Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018). In 2015, Sandler teamed up with an ensemble crew for the Netflix original film The Ridiculous 6 that included Schneider and Luke Wilson, and in 2017, he appeared in the Netflix film Sandy Wexler (in addition to producing both films) as well as the star-studded drama The Meyerowitz Stories.

Returning to stand-up, Sandler premiered the sarcastic comedy special 100% Fresh on Netflix in 2018. He next costarred in the Netflix original comedies The Week Of (2018), with Rock, and Murder Mystery (2019), with Aniston. In 2019, he starred in the Benny and Josh Safdie crime drama Uncut Gems. Following Sandler as a New York City jeweler as he tries to stay alive amid mounting debts and angry collectors, critics deemed the film his best performance to date. Sandler continued his string of Netflix original films when he appeared as the lead role in Hubie Halloween in 2020. He turned to a more serious role in 2022 in Hustle, about a basketball scout, played by Sandler, who takes a talented street ball player under his wing.

Continuing to juggle dual roles in acting and producing, Sandler then teamed up with Aniston once more for Murder Mystery 2 (2023) before collaborating with his family on the coming-of-age film You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023). In addition to serving as an opportunity for him to work with his wife and two daughters, who served as costars, the film, an adaptation of a 2005 novel of the same name by Fiona Rosenbloom, provided further cinematic grounds for Sandler to explore his Jewish heritage. After also producing and lending his voice to the lead role in the animated feature Leo in 2023, he portrayed an astronaut on a solo research mission in 2024's Space Man, a dramatic sci-fi feature that received mixed reviews.

Significance

Sandler has brought to his work an everyman humor with an honest, simple, and easy appeal. His wacky schoolboy humor has informed his films, his stand-up routines and comedy songs, and his television skits, shows, and series. Sandler’s ambitious body of work included wildly popular comedies with Jewish themes, such as the animated musical comedy Eight Crazy Nights (2002), depicting the eight days of Hanukkah; characters with self-effacing confidence, such as Zohan Dvir, of You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (2008); and signature pieces such as “The Chanukah Song” (1994–2015), which examines the paradoxes of being Jewish. Sandler was awarded the prestigious Mark Twain Award for American Humor in 2023 for his multifaceted acting, writing, and producing career.

Bibliography

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Blair, Elizabeth. "Adam Sandler Wins the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor." NPR, 13 Dec. 2022, www.npr.org/2022/12/13/1142252133/adam-sandler-wins-the-mark-twain-prize-for-american-humor. Accessed 3 Mar. 2023.

Crawford, Bill. Adam Sandler: America’s Comedian. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2008.

Edgers, Geoff. "Adam Sandler Doesn't Need Your Respect. But He's Getting It Anyway." The Washington Post, 16 Mar. 2023, www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2023/03/16/adam-sandler-interview-twain-prize/. Accessed 2 July 2024.

Robinson, Tasha. "Spaceman Gave Adam Sandler a New Skill: 'I Never Cried In Front of a Tennis Ball Before.'" Polygon, 23 Feb. 2024, www.polygon.com/24080545/adam-sandler-spaceman-interview-talking-to-a-tennis-ball-netflix. Accessed 2 July 2024.

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Stern, David. Adam Sandler: An Unauthorized Biography. Renaissance, 2001.

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