name | Adam Sandler |
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birth name | Adam Richard Sandler |
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birth date | September 09, 1966 |
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birth place | Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
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occupation | Actor, comedian, musician, songwriter, screenwriter, film producer |
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years active | 1987–present |
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spouse | Jackie Sandler (2003–present)(two children) |
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website | AdamSandler.com
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Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, singer, screenwriter, musician, and film producer.
After becoming a ''Saturday Night Live'' cast member, Sandler went on to star in several Hollywood feature films that grossed over $100 million at the box office. He is best known for his comedic roles, such as in the films ''Billy Madison'' (1995), ''Happy Gilmore'' (1996), ''Big Daddy'' (1999), and ''Mr. Deeds'' (2002), though he has ventured into more dramatic territory. In 1999, Sandler founded Happy Madison, a film and television production company that has produced numerous films and developed the 2007 television series ''Rules of Engagement''.
Early life
Adam Sandler was born in
Brooklyn, New York to Jewish parents, Stanley, an electrical engineer, and Judy Sandler, a nursery school teacher. When he was five, his family moved to
Manchester, New Hampshire, where he attended
Manchester Central High School. He found he was a natural comic, and nurtured his talent while at
New York University by performing regularly in clubs and on campuses. Sandler graduated from NYU's
Tisch School of the Arts in 1988.
Later in his career, he would draw on his earliest experiences for material for his comedy and movies. The song "Lunchlady Land" from his debut album ''They're All Gonna Laugh at You!'' is dedicated to Emalee, the lunchlady at Hayden Dining Hall at New York University.
Career
Acting career
In the mid to late 1980s, Sandler played
Theo Huxtable's friend, Smitty, on ''
The Cosby Show'' (1987–1988). He was a performer for the
MTV game show ''
Remote Control'', on which he made appearances as the characters "Trivia Delinquent" or "Stud Boy". Early in his career, Sandler performed in comedy clubs, taking the stage at his brother's urging when he was only 17. He was discovered by comedian
Dennis Miller, who caught Sandler's act in Los Angeles. Miller recommended him to ''
Saturday Night Live'' producer
Lorne Michaels. Sandler was hired as a writer for ''SNL'' in 1990 and became a featured player the following year, making a name for himself by performing amusing original songs on the show, including "
The Chanukah Song". Sandler told
Conan O'Brien on ''
The Tonight Show'' that
NBC fired him and
Chris Farley from the show in 1995.
Sandler's first starring role was in 1989, in the film ''Going Overboard''. In 1994 he co-starred in ''Airheads'' with Brendan Fraser, and Steve Buscemi. He starred in ''Billy Madison'' (1995) as a grown, though uneducated, man repeating grades 1–12 to earn back his father's respect, along with the right to inherit his father's multi-million-dollar hotel empire. In ''At the Movies'', Siskel and Ebert gave the film a very bad review, and said of Sandler "...Not an attractive screen presence, he might have a career as a villain or a fall guy or the butt of a joke, but as the protagonist his problem is he creates the fingernails on the blackboard" with Siskel adding "...you don't have a good motivation for the character's behavior". He followed this film with other financially successful comedies such as ''Bulletproof'' (1996), ''Happy Gilmore'' (1996) and ''The Wedding Singer'' (1998). He was initially cast in the bachelor-party-themed comedy/thriller ''Very Bad Things'' (1998), but had to back out due to his involvement in ''The Waterboy'' (1998) one of his first hits.
Although his earlier films did not receive critical praise, his more recent films, beginning with ''Punch-Drunk Love'' (2002), have received more positive reviews. Roger Ebert, in his review of ''Punch-Drunk Love'', concluded that Sandler had been wasted in earlier films with poorly written scripts and characters with no development. Sandler has moved outside the genre of slapstick comedy to take on more serious parts such as the aforementioned ''Punch-Drunk Love'' (for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe), ''Spanglish'' (2004) and ''Reign Over Me'' (2007). He played a loving father figure in ''Big Daddy'' (1999). During filming, he met Jacqueline Samantha Titone—his future wife and mother of his two daughters -— who was cast as the waitress from The Blarney Stone Bar.
At one point, Sandler was considered for the part that went to Jamie Foxx in ''Collateral'' (2004). He also was one of the finalists along with Jim Carrey and Johnny Depp for the role of Willy Wonka in Tim Burton's ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' (2005). He returned to more dramatic fare with Mike Binder's ''Reign Over Me'' (2007), a drama about a man who loses his entire family in 9/11 and rekindles a friendship with his old college roommate (played by Don Cheadle). He starred in the film ''I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry'' (2007) alongside Kevin James, as a New York City fireman pretending to be gay to keep up an insurance scam so that his best friend's children can have benefits. Sandler headlined ''You Don't Mess with the Zohan'' (2008), a comedy about a Mossad agent who fakes his own death and moves to the United States to become a hair stylist. The film was written by Sandler, ''The 40-Year-Old Virgin'' writer-director Judd Apatow (who was an old roommate of Sandler's when both were starting out), and ''Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog'' creator Robert Smigel, and was directed by ''Happy Gilmore'' director Dennis Dugan.
"Like Will Ferrell, Sandler has layers of tenderness under layers of irony under layers of tenderness—plus a floating anger like Jupiter’s great red spot," wrote David Edelstein of ''New York'' magazine in a review of ''You Don't Mess with the Z''. "Some performers become stars because we can read them instantly, others—like Sandler—because we never tire of trying to get a fix on them."
Sandler starred in ''Bedtime Stories'' (2008), a fantasy film directed by ''Bringing Down the House'' director Adam Shankman, about a stressed hotel maintenance worker whose bedtime stories he reads to his niece and nephew begin to come true. This marked Sandler's first family film and first film under the Walt Disney banner. Keri Russell and English comedian Russell Brand co-starred.
In 2009, Sandler starred in Judd Apatow's third directorial feature ''Funny People''. He played a very successful stand up comedian who finds out he has a terminal illness and he takes a young inexperienced comic, played by Seth Rogen, under his wing. Other co-stars included Eric Bana and Apatow's wife, Leslie Mann. The film contained more dramatic elements than Apatow's previous efforts. Filming began in October 2008 and finished in January 2009. The film was released on July 31, 2009. At one point, Sandler was in talks to star in Quentin Tarantino's World War II film ''Inglourious Basterds'', which he confirmed, but he did not appear in it due to a scheduling conflict with ''Funny People''. Following the release of ''Funny People'', it, along with ''Punch-Drunk Love'' were cited in the June 2010 announcement that Sandler was one of 135 people (including 20 actors) invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Sandler appeared in ''Grown Ups'', teaming up with Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, and David Spade (all of whom have worked with Sandler before) for a film about five best friends from high school who reunite 30 years later on the July 4 weekend. Other costars include Salma Hayek (playing Sandler's wife), Maria Bello (playing James' wife), and fellow ''SNL'' alumna Maya Rudolph (playing Rock's wife), Colin Quinn, Tim Meadows, and Norm Macdonald. Sandler and ''Dickie Roberts'' scribe Fred Wolf wrote the script and Dennis Dugan directed the film.
Sandler starred in the 2011 film ''Just Go with It'', with Jennifer Aniston, a romantic comedy written by Allan Loeb and Tim Dowling and directed by Dennis Dugan. He played a plastic surgeon who asks his office manager, played by Aniston, to pose as his wife, in order to prove his honesty to his much younger girlfriend, played by Brooklyn Decker. Sandler also provided the voice of a capuchin monkey in Kevin James' ''Zookeeper'', released on July 8, 2011.
Sandler is set to release ''Jack & Jill'' on November 11, 2011. The film tells the story of a family man, played by Sandler, who gets a visit from his twin sister, also played by Sandler, and gets annoyed when she won't leave. Katie Holmes portrays his wife while Al Pacino appears as himself. He is also currently filming ''I Hate You, Dad'' with Andy Samberg, which tells the story of a man, played by Sandler, who fathered a son, played by Samberg, with his teacher in high school, and then, years later, visits his son on the eve of his son's wedding where he clashes with the bride, played by Leighton Meester.
Happy Madison Productions
Sandler formed his film production company,
Happy Madison Productions, in 1999, first producing fellow ''SNL'' alumnus
Rob Schneider's film ''
Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo''. Happy Madison has produced all of Sandler's subsequent films to date with the exceptions ''
Punch Drunk Love'' and ''
Spanglish''. ''
Reign Over Me'' and ''
Funny People'' were produced by Happy Madison but under the subsidiary label "Madison 23".
Sandler is known for consistently working with a core group of friends and associates through Happy Madison, frequently casting fellow ''SNL'' performers in various roles in his films. Sandler and Happy Madison produced ''SNL'' contemporary Rob Schneider's vehicles ''Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo'' (1999), ''The Animal'' (2001), ''The Hot Chick'' (2002), and ''Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo'' (2005), and ''The Benchwarmers'' (2006), with Sandler making cameo appearances in the middle three. Meanwhile, Schneider has appeared in cameo roles in Sandler films ''The Waterboy'', ''Little Nicky'', ''Mr. Deeds'', ''Click'', ''The Longest Yard'', ''I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry'', and ''Bedtime Stories''. Schneider had larger roles in Sandler films ''Big Daddy'', ''50 First Dates'', ''Eight Crazy Nights'', ''You Don't Mess with the Zohan'', and ''Grown Ups''.
Happy Madison produced David Spade's ''Joe Dirt'', ''Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star'', and ''The Benchwarmers'', which also featured Rob Schneider. Spade additionally made a cameo appearance in ''I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry'' and had a prominent supporting role in ''Grown Ups''. Sandler cameoed as a special audience member in an episode of ''The Showbiz Show with David Spade''. ''SNL'' contemporary Kevin Nealon has appeared in nine Happy Madison productions or Sandler films, including ''Happy Gilmore'', ''The Wedding Singer'', ''Little Nicky'', ''Joe Dirt'', ''Eight Crazy Nights'', ''Anger Management'', ''Grandma's Boy'', ''You Don't Mess with the Zohan'' and the Dana Carvey vehicle, ''The Master of Disguise''.
Happy Madison also produced ''Paul Blart: Mall Cop'', the first starring vehicle for Kevin James. James had costarred with Sandler in ''I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry'' and ''Grown Ups'' and made a cameo appearance in ''You Don't Mess with the Zohan''. Happy Madison also produced James' second starring vehicle ''Zookeeper''.
He appeared as the featured guest on the final episode of John McEnroe's eponymous CNBC talk show, airing in late 2004. McEnroe appeared as himself in three of Sandler's films (''Mr. Deeds'', ''Anger Management'', and ''You Don't Mess with the Zohan'').
Anna Faris, who appeared in ''The Hot Chick'', became the first female actor to headline a production for Happy Madison with ''The House Bunny'' and will headline another film for Happy Madison in the near future.
Others who frequently appear in Sandler films include Steve Buscemi, Chris Rock, John Turturro, Jon Lovitz, Clint Howard, Norm Macdonald, Nick Swardson, and longtime Sandler pals Allen Covert, Peter Dante, and Jonathan Loughran. In particular Allen Covert plays unique and eccentric characters in Sandler's films. Most notably as a limo driver in ''The Wedding Singer'', Ten Second Tom in ''50 First Dates'', and Nicky's roommate in ''Little Nicky''. Covert starred in his first leading role in ''Grandma's Boy'', also produced by Happy Madison productions.
In June 2007, it was announced that Happy Madison had made a preemptive acquisition for Mitch Albom's screenwriting debut.
In June 2008, it was announced that Sandler will be executive producer for a horror thriller titled ''The Shortcut'' under a nascent genre label for Happy Madison called "Scary Madison".
In October 2009, it was announced that Sandler and Happy Madison will produce the Richard Pryor biopic ''Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said?'' for Sony, the company's first major dramatic production. The film was written by Bill Condon, who is set to direct, and Pryor will be played by Marlon Wayans, who is replacing Eddie Murphy.
Personal life
On June 22, 2003, Sandler married actress Jacqueline Samantha Titone, and they are the parents of two daughters, Sadie Madison Sandler and Sunny Madeline Sandler. Sandler lives with his family in Los Angeles, although he also has a home in New York.
Political and charitable donations
In 2007, Sandler made a $1 million donation to the
Boys and Girls Club in his hometown,
Manchester, New Hampshire. He also donated $2,100 to
Republican Rudy Giuliani's
presidential campaign the same year, and is a registered Republican.
Filmography
Television
Discography
References
External links
Official website
Category:1966 births
Category:20th-century actors
Category:20th-century writers
Category:21st-century actors
Category:21st-century writers
Category:Actors from New Hampshire
Category:Actors from New York City
Category:American comedians
Category:American comedy musicians
Category:American film actors
Category:American film producers
Category:American Jews
Category:American male singers
Category:American musicians
Category:American singers
Category:American screenwriters
Category:American stand-up comedians
Category:American television actors
Category:American television producers
Category:American television writers
Category:American voice actors
Category:Former pupils of Manchester Central High School
Category:Jewish actors
Category:Jewish American musicians
Category:Jewish comedians
Category:New York University alumni
Category:Living people
Category:People from Brooklyn
Category:People from Manchester, New Hampshire
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