Adam Sandler

Adam Sandler Biography

Adam Richard Sandler is the famous American actor-comedian, screenwriter, film producer and musician. He is famous for the films «Happy Gilmore», «You Don't Mess with the Zohan», «Mr. Deeds», «50 First Dates», «Just Go with It».

Childhood and education

Adam Sandler was born on 9 September 1966 in Brooklyn (New York), in the prosperous Jewish family of the Jewish faith. Both of his parents, an electrical engineer Stanley Sandler (1935–2003) and a nursery school teacher Judith Sandler (née Levine), were the Russian emigrants’ offspring. Adam was the youngest of four children – he has a brother, Scott and sisters, Elizabeth and Valerie.

Adam Sandler in his childhood and nowadays

The boy was in close-knit relationships with his father and afterward thought about him with appreciation. Stanley never lectured son, but he was always a role model for Adam. Dad taught him, that a family is the most important thing, and if somebody in your family is in need for your help, you must help him at all costs.

When Adam was six, the Sandlers moved to Manchester from Brooklyn, New Hampshire, where he grew up. He attended Manchester Central High School and soon he was labeled as the main class clown. The first man, who saw the young comedian’s potential, was his elder brother, he talked Adam into trying his hand at a stand-up in one of the Boston’s clubs.

The Adam Sandler's school photos

The experiment was a success and the young man was obsessed with the idea of getting into show business professionally. In order to fulfill this dream, he graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, famous for such graduates as Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Steve Buscemi, Uma Thurman, Matt Dillon, Lady Gaga, Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke, Angelina Jolie and even Marilyn Monroe.

Adam Sandler started his path to glory as a standup comedian

Television projects

Adam Sandler’s first appearance on the screen was in 1980 году, he was filmed in one of the episodes of a famous sitcom «The Cosby Show», in the late 1980s he took part in a game show «Remote Control» on MTV.

A young Adam Sandler in « The Cosby Show»

After graduation Tisch School of the Arts, the young performer made humorous shows in Los Angeles clubs to make a living, and in 1990, he was discovered by a famous comedian Dennis Miller, who introduced him to producers of the show «Saturday Night Live». Thus, Adam got a full-time job on TV – at first as a screenwriter and the next year as an active actor.

The first Adam Sandler's performances

He often performed sketch comedies and songs, including songs of his own composition «The Thanksgiving Song» and «The Chanukah Song». A systematic appearance on the screen up to the middle of 1995 made a name for the young comedian.

Movie career

Adam Sandler’s film debut took place in 1989 with the comedy «Going Overboard», where he starred as a young stand-up comedian, resembling himself. The film had a modest budget by Hollywood standards of 200 thousand dollars and was not successful with an audience and critics «rewarded» acting by severe expressions, calling their work «incompetent».

A scene from the «Going Overboard»

No wonder that Adam forgot about the cinema for a while and focused on TV, but later fate brought him to the cinema again: in 1993, the film «Coneheads» was released based on plots of the TV show «Saturday Night Live» and with the same actors. He performed a supporting role there and Dan Aykroyd starring as the main character. Critics gave the poor ratings, noting, «The actors couldn't overcome a total lack of inspiration of the screenplay», but a big part of the audience considered the film as funny and amusing.

Adam Sandler before he became famous

The next film with Adam Sandler was released in 1994 – it was a musical comedy about hapless rock musicians «Airheads», in which he played one of the leading roles along with Brendan Fraser and Steve Buscemi. Critics pulled the actor’s work to pieces again, the film also lost money during the rollout. Nevertheless, the film got devoted fans and became virtually hieratical in the end.

«Coneheads»: acene with Adam Sandler

Then, after the bit part in the film «Mixed Nuts» (1994) with a famous comedian Steve Martin, Adam got down to the work, which constituted a turning point of his career – the comedy «Billy Madison» (1995). This time, using his experience as TV shows’ author, Adam himself wrote the screenplay, and then performed the main role.

Adam Sandler in the film «Billy Madison»

The story is full of soft humor and touching in its own way, about a rich slacker, who needed to make a real feat of studying, in order to inherit the family company, the film received good feedbacks by the audience. And critics were less strict this time, describing its nontrivial style: «„Billy Madison“ is a typical immature work by Adam Sandler, although there is the inspiration of madness».

Adam Sandler's characters irritate you – this is his acting style

Exactly this film was the starting point for the appreciation of a signature actor’s style: «When you accepted the fact, that the Sandler's comic character is deliberately designed, in order to irritate you, you instantly break into a laugh», – summarized journalists. The actor was nominated for this work on MTV Movie Awards in the category «the best comic role».

Building on the success of «Billy Madison», Adam Sandler himself wrote the screenplay for his next film. It was a comedy about sport «Happy Gilmore» (1996), Ben Stiller was invited to perform one of the supporting roles. This time even the strictest critics were impressed:

Those who like Adam Sandler's style, will discover many strengths, that make you love this happy-naive film about professional golf, and those who dislike his style, will just have fun.

The film brought to Sandler one of the most prestigious awards in his career – MTV Movie Award for the best fight, and he was nominated on MTV Movie Awards for the best comic role and on Kid's Choice Awards for the best film. The film got 41 million dollars during the rollout period, this fact exceeded expectations of the filmmakers.

«Happy Gilmore». Best scenes

«The Wedding Singer»: Adam Sandler starring as, Robbie Hart

The next Sandler's film, «The Waterboy» 1998, was even more profitable – 186 million dollars. This time Adam Адам sought to make the film more authorial: he not only wrote the screenplay and starred in the film but also took part in the producing of his own film for the first time. Kathy Bates being a bright, distinctive actress, was in the film as a main character’s mother.

A scene from the «The Waterboy»

However, surprisingly, critics did not like the film – they scolded it for «A low-quality humor and jokes», and pointed out: «Sandler makes a tactical error: at first he creates the character, with a weird voice and manners, and then for some reason expects что the viewers will watch the film till the end». A journalist summed up the perception of the audience: «Of course the film is stupid but you will break into a laugh every 10 minutes».

A photo from the filming of «The Waterboy»

Nevertheless, Sandler's works became more and more popular from one film to another, and the next comedy «Big Daddy» (1999) became a real hit, bringing a return of 235 million dollars. This time harsh and specific humor was softer by kind and lyrical undertones in the plot, telling us about an adult bonehead, who had to take care of someone else's baby.

Along with Adam Sandler the twins Sprouse took part in the «Big Daddy»

Adam Sandler's signature smile («Big Daddy», 1999)

After finishing this work in 1999, Adam Sandler founded his own production center «Happy Madison Productions», he gave the name to the company «for good luck» composing it from the names of his first successful films: «Happy Gilmore» and «Billy Madison».

Adam Sandler's evolution

Starting from this very moment «Happy Madison» with Adam's personal involvement was producing almost all the films in which he took part, and was released the other films and TV projects – most of them, as well as Adam’s own films, received bad marks from critics, but generated a good income, although box office failures were happening too.

The first Adam Sandler’s film, which was released by the new company, was the comedy «Little Nicky» (2000) about the youngest and favorite devil’s son, who decided to stand on the side of good. Although the film could not pay back the investments of 85 million dollars, it was successful in its own way, nominating on «Golden Raspberry» as the worst film, the worst actor (Adam Sandler), the worst supporting actress (Patricia Arquette), the worst filmmaker and the worst scenario. Fortunately for Sandler, in the same year was made another film, which matched «Golden Raspberry» more than the Sandler’s film – a fantastic action «Battlefield Earth» with John Travolta.

«Little Nicky» was a box office failure

A comedy melodrama «Punch-Drunk Love» was special in Sandler’s acting career (2002), he was nominated on «Golden Globe» for the main role. The humor in this film is of better quality, in comparison with his previous works, and has no signs of «a weird laugh». The press wrote:

Getting out of his usual role, Sandler demonstrated an unusual acting profundity... His acting has a mystery, strength, and passion. And probably, he will never take part in his stupid comedies?

For better or worse, this expectation did not materialize and Sandler performed his best comic roles in many wonderful and very funny comedies in future years. Possible, they became less «idiotic», than his early films, but they maintained the charm of his unique style.

Adam Sandler and и Salma Hayek on MTV Movie Awards 1999

However, there are different works in Sandler’s career, in which he showed himself as a more profound and diverse actor. One of such works became a romantic drama with elements of comedy «Spanglish» (2004), which was not a box office success but was nominated «Golden Globe Award» for the best music. Another Sandler’s dramatic work was the film «Reign Over Me» (2007) featuring Liv Tyler. The box office of this film barely exceeded its own budget, but critics described it as «a charming and touching story about friendship and loss, in which Adam Sandler perfectly portrayed a broken-down man».

Adam Sandler is not only the comedian

One more uncharacteristic film for the actor became tragicomedy «Funny People» (2009), where he portrayed a successful comedian, who rethinks his life, facing an incurable disease... and the disease retreats in the end. This film was a book office success and received average reviews, but it was a big step in Sandler's career.

A scene from the «Blended»

In addition to the work in featured films, Adam Sandler took part in the dubbing of the several full-length cartoons: «Eight Crazy Nights» (1998, Sandler was also the producer and screenwriter), «Hotel Transylvania» (2012, Dracula) and «Hotel Transylvania 2» (2015).

In 2017 Adam Sandler was the fourth in the list of the most highly paid Hollywood celebrities, next to Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, and the leader of the list Robert Downey Jr.. His total fee for the two films – «The Meyerowitz Stories» and «Sandy Wexler» was 50 million dollars.

In 2017 Adam Sandler grew a mustache

In 2018 Sandler is dubbing threequel «Hotel Transylvania 3» along with Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi, and other actors.

Adam Sandler's personal life

On the filming of «Big Daddy» (1999), Adam Sandler met a model and an aspiring actress Jacqueline Titone (born on 24 September 1974), who was in the film as a waitress. The immediately fell in love with each other, and Jacqueline, who was brought up as a Christian, converted to Judaism. On 22 June 2003, they were married in Malibu. Jacqueline Sandler always supports his husband and often take bit parts in his films.

Adam Sandler and Jacqueline Titone’s marriage

The couple has two daughters: elder daughter, Sadie Madison Sandler was born on 6 May 2006 and younger daughter, Sunny Madelyn Sandler was born on 2 November 2008.

Adam Sandler with wife and children

Adam Sandler nowadays

Adam Sandler continues to star in films. So, in 2019, he took part in the filming of the movie "Murder Mystery" starring Nick Spitz. In the same year, he starred in the movie "Uncut Gems". In 2021, Adam Sandler will voice the familiar character Dracula in the animated film "Hotel Transylvania".

In 2020, the actor also publicly spoke about the actions of the American Film Academy, which did not nominate him an Oscar for his role in the movie "Uncut Gems". According to the actor, ignoring his talented game reminded him of the times of high school.

Photos: Adam Sandler