Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9th, 1966) is an American comedian, actor, musician, screenwriter, and film producer. After becoming a popular Saturday Night Live cast member, he went on to star in several Hollywood feature films that grossed over $100 Million at the box office.[1] Though he is best known for his comedic roles, such as in the films Billy Madison (1995), Happy Gilmore (1996), and Big Daddy (1999), he has also had success in romantic and dramatic roles, such as in the films Punch-Drunk Love (2002), Spanglish (2004), and Reign Over Me (2007).
Biography
Early life
Sandler was born in Brooklyn, New York to Judy, a nursery school teacher, and Stanley Sandler, an electrical engineer.[2] He had a Jewish upbringing.[3] His family later moved to Manchester, New Hampshire. The song "Lunchlady Land" is dedicated to the lunch lady at Central High. Sandler went to summer camp at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.
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". Sandler started performing in clubs early on, taking the stage at his brother's urging when he was only 17. He was then discovered by comedian Dennis Miller, who caught Sandler's act in Los Angeles. Miller immediately 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, quickly making a name for himself by performing amusing original songs on the show, including "The Chanukah Song".[4] He left the show in 1995 to focus on his acting career.
Sandler's first successful starring role was in 1989 when he starred in the movie Going Overboard. In 1995 he starred in Billy Madison, in which he plays a grown man repeating grades 1–12 to earn his father's respect back, along with the right to inherit his father's multi-million-dollar hotel empire. He followed this movie up 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),[5] one of his first hits.
Although most of his earlier films were almost universally despised by movie critics, many of his recent films starting with Punch-Drunk Love (2002) have received almost uniformly positive reviews, leading many movie critics to believe that Sandler possesses considerable acting ability that they believed had been previously wasted on poorly written scripts and characters with no development.[6] Audiences have remained faithful to Sandler's slapstick humor to the tune of $100-million-plus grossing movies. Sandler has moved outside the genre of goofball humor to take on more serious parts such as the aforementioned Punch-Drunk Love (for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe), and Spanglish (2004). He also plays a loving father figure in Big Daddy (1999). Ironically, during filming, he met Jacqueline Samantha Titone -- his future wife and mother of his daughter. Jackie was cast as the charming waitress from The Blarney Stone Bar.
At one point, Sandler was considered for the part that went to Jamie Foxx in Collateral (2004).[7] 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), but Depp in the end got the role.[8] He returned to more dramatic fare with Mike Binder's Reign Over Me (2007), a drama about a man who lost his entire family in 9/11 and rekindles a friendship with his old college roommate (played by Don Cheadle). Most recently, he starred in the movie I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007), where he stars along side Kevin James as a New York City fireman pretending to be gay keep up an insurance scam, so his best friend's children can have benefits. His next comedy will be You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008) a film 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 being directed by Happy Gilmore director Dennis Dugan about a Mossad agent who fakes his own death and moves to the United States to become a hair stylist,[9]. He will also be working on Bedtime Stories (2008), a fantasy film being directed by Bringing Down the House director Adam Shankman about a stressed real estate developer whose bedtime stories he reads to his niece and nephew begin to come true, which will mark Sandler's first family film and first film under the Walt Disney banner.[10] Sandler has also been long-rumored to costar with Michael Madsen in Quentin Tarantino's upcoming World War II saga Inglorious Bastards.[11].
In June, 2007, it was announced that his production company, Happy Madison, had made a preemptive acquisition for Mitch Albom's screenwriting debut.[12]
Themes in Sandler's films
Cheering at the end - His films sometimes end with a scene in which his character is being cheered on by a large audience for one reason or another which is occasionally followed up with a judge going the opposite direction of the crowd sentiment and ruining the moment (the Billy Madison contest and the trials in Big Daddy and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry being several examples).
Diminutive first names - Sandler's character names in many of his films end with a "y" or an "ie" sound. Examples include his characters in Going Overboard (Schecky), Billy Madison (Billy), Happy Gilmore (Happy), Bulletproof (Archie), The Wedding Singer (Robbie), Waterboy (Bobby), Big Daddy (Sonny), Little Nicky (Nicky), Punch-Drunk Love (Barry), 50 First Dates (Henry), 8 Crazy Nights (Davey and Whitey), Reign Over Me (Charlie).
V-girls - In many of his movies, the lead female character's name starts with a V (i.e., Veronica Vaughn, Virginia Venit, Valerie Veran, Vicki Vallencourt, Vanessa).
Styx - will often feature their music in his movies.
Repeating co-stars - Sandler often casts Dan Aykroyd, Allen Covert, Blake Clark, Steve Buscemi, Kevin Nealon, Peter Dante, Jonathan Loughran, Rob Schneider, and former SNL players in his films.
New York Jets - Click, when he is a young boy wearing a Jets jersey; Mr. Deeds, when the helicopter pilot informs him that he now owns the Jets; Big Daddy, when Sonny and Julian go to a sports bar and the waitress asks Julian which football team he wanted to win and he replies by saying "the goddamn Jets"; Little Nicky, When Dan Marino tries to sell his soul to win the Super Bowl. Satan Harvey Keitel refuses, Dan leaves, and the Satan informs Nicky that he's a Jets fan.
Pittsburgh Steelers - former Steeler coach Bill Cowher and former Steelers WR Lynn Swann making cameo appearances in The Waterboy. Sandler's character in The Longest Yard was a quarterback for the Steelers.
"You can do it! - usually said by Rob Schneider, often in a foreign-sounding quasi-Cajunvoice, with the exception of Anger Management where former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani says the line. In The Animal, Sandler plays a similar townie that says the same thing.
Elderly Irony - Sandler's movies often include elderly people behaving ironically uncouth ("If peeing your pants is cool, consider me Miles Davis" from Billy Madison, "Now you've had enough... bitch" Bob Barker in Happy Gilmore, "Fuck yeah" Old Japanese guy in Click, "Only you and my grandfather pee every 30 seconds" from Big Daddy), "Look at those two Shitheads" Old Hawaiian man from 50 First Dates.
O'Doyle - this is the surname of bullies from both Billy Madison and Click.
Food - Sandler's characters often have a love for specific foods, such as Popeye's Chicken (Little Nicky), Subway (Happy Gilmore) and Hunt's Snack Pack (Billy Madison).
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