A genial, laid-back stand-up comic and graduate of NBC's "Saturday Night Live", Brooklyn-born Adam Sandler was a class clown in Manchester, New Hampshire after his family moved there when he was six. He has gone on record that Rodney Dangerfield, Cheech & Chong and repeated viewings of the movie "Caddyshack" (1980) were his inspirations, so it was not surprising that he made his first forays into performing comedy while an undergraduate at NYU. While still at school, he also landed a recurring role as Theo's friend Smitty on the NBC sitcom "The Cosby Show". After dropping out of college and settling in L.A., he hit the local comedy clubs including the Improv, where "Saturday Night Live" alumnus Dennis Miller "discovered" him. Miller recommended Sandler to Lorne Michaels, who hired him as a writer for the series in 1990. Within a year, Sandler started to make onscreen appearances. Though his gallery of weirdly off-center dunces--including Iraqi Pete, Canteen Boy and Cajun Man--quickly caught on with the audience, it was Opera Man, a bewigged and caped tenor who sings in satirical, often moronic non sequiturs, that persuaded Michaels to anoint him a performing regular.
Sandler joined the growing list of "SNL" performers who made the transition to the big screen with his feature debut in Bobcat Goldthwait's uneven cult comedy "Shakes the Clown" (1992). He followed with a small role in "Coneheads" (1993), based on "SNL" skits from the 1970s, and a more substantial one in "Airheads" (1994) as a member of a heavy metal band who inadvertently take over a radio station to secure airplay for their self-produced demo. Sandler finished out the year in Nora Ephron's "Mixed Nuts" (1994) playing a goofball with an unrequited crush on co-star Rita Wilson, a part that called for variations on his "SNL" characters, most notably Opera Man. He then co-wrote and starred as "Billy Madison" (1995), the scion of a wealthy family who tries to prove to his retiring father that he's worthy of taking over the family business by attending grades 1-12 in six months. In December of that year, his comic "Hanukkah Song" became a surprise hit on radio stations nationwide.
Sandler proved the commercial success of the critically panned "Billy Madison" was no fluke by co-writing another low-brow starring vehicle, the golfing comedy "Happy Gilmore" (1996), which took in more than $40 million. Adding further proof of his box-office appeal, that year's "Bulletproof", teaming him with Damon Wayans, opened at Number 1, but none of these coups prepared anyone for the breakout phenomena of "The Wedding Singer" (1998), a relatively sophisticated product (by Sandler's standards) which grossed $80 million and finally brought women to the ranks of what had previously been his male fan base. He reverted to his classic outsider image for "The Waterboy" (also 1998), its $39 million opening weekend flying in the face of conventional wisdom saying moviegoers prefer more serious fare in the fall. With everyone calling him the heir-apparent to Jim Carrey's low-comedy throne, Sandler, whose underdog quality and vulnerability separates him from his comic peers, headlined "Big Daddy" (1999), as a slacker who adopts a boy to win back his girlfriend. The film had more heart than "The Waterboy" and while it was not as overwhelmingly succesful, it did register as another solid hit for Sandler. While helping fellow SNL alumnis out by producing their comedies ("Joe Dirt" for David Spade in 2001 and "The Animal" for Rob Schneider, also in 2001) he put out the mediocre comedy "Little Nicky" in 2001. He followed up with "Mr. Deeds" in 2002 which also performed poorly, suggesting maybe Sandler's golden touch was beginning to tarnish.
Perhaps sensing the need for a change of direction, Sandler starred opposite Emily Watson in the critically acclaimed dramatic comedy "Punch-Drunk Love" (2002) which premiered at Cannes and took home The Golden Palm award there. Taking on a more mature role in the romantic comedy created expressly for him by writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, Sandler successfully built upon his likeable sad-sack persona and added darker edges in a more true-to-life scenario. The new dimension impressed both critics and moviegoers. In 2003, Sandler joined Jack Nicholson as the unlikely pair took on the roles of patient and therapist in the clever David Dorfman comedy "Anger Management," with Sandler's uptight, rage-repressed everyman serving as the perfect foil for Nicholson's wild-eyed, unshaven and slightly psycho psychotherapist.
Sandler reunited with his "Wedding Singer" co-star Barrymore for "50 First Dates" (2004), a romantic comedy that cast Sandler as Henry Roth, a man who falls in love with a woman with a disorder that eliminates her short-term memory and forces him to woo her anew each and every day. The actor was better served in his next project, writer-director James L. Brooks' "Spanglish" (2004), playing a chef grappling with the challenges of his out-of-control wife (Tea Leoni) and the emotional damage she inflicts on their daughter, even as he is attracted to the beautiful and sensitive maid who doesn't speak English (Paz Vega). The film's serio-comic tone did not work for everyone, but Roger Ebert summed up the opinion of most critics when he said of Sandler's performance that he likes Adam Sandler most when he's not in typical Adam Sandler movies. The actor delivered another sweet and sensitive portrayal suggesting that he, if not all of his fans, had evolved away from the wacky, "dumb guy" comedies that made him a superstar. His remake of prison football comedy "The Longest Yard" (2005)--with Sandler in the Burt Reynolds role of a jailed NFL quarterback leading a team of inmates against their guards--was a half-step backward: although missing much of the original's charm and edge, it proved popular at the box office.
Born: on 09/09/66 in Brooklyn, New YorkJob Titles: Actor, Comedian, Screenwriter, TV writer, Musician, Producer, SingerFamily
Brother: Scott Sandler. born c. 1962
Father: Stan Sandler. retired, lives in Florida; born c. 1935
Mother: Judy Sandler. born c. 1937
Sister: Elizabeth Sandler. older
Sister: Valerie Sandler. works in food industry; older
Significant Others
Companion: Alicia Silverstone. dated briefly in 1996
Companion: Jackie Titone. born c. 1974; had small role in "Big Daddy" as a waitress; engaged in 2002
Companion: Margaret Ruden. born c. 1967; relationship began in 1989; engaged to be married; no longer together
Education
Manchester Central High School, Manchester, New Hampshire, 1984
New York University, New York, New York, BFA
Milestones
1972 Moved to Manchester, New Hampshire at age six (date approximate)
1983 Debuted as a stand-up comic at Boston's Stitches Comedy Club at age 17 (date approximate)
1987 While an undergraduate at NYU, played recurring role of Theo's pal Smitty on four episodes of the NBC sitcom eThe Cosby Show"
1992 Feature film debut, "Shakes the Clown"
1993 Released first comedy album, "they're all gonna laugh at you!"
1994 Had supporting role in feature film "Airheads"
1995 "Hannukah Song" became surprise hit on radio at holiday time
1995 First starring role as "Billy Madison"; co-wrote with former NYU roommate and close friend Tim Herlihy
1996 Acted opposite Damon Wayans in "Bulletproof"
1996 Reteamed with Herlihy to write second starring vehicle, "Happy Gilmore", directed by Dennis Dugan
1998 Astonishing $39 million opening weekend of "The Waterboy" confirmed stardom (40 percent of audience was female); co-written with Herlihy and directed by Coraci
1998 Breakout movie, "The Wedding Singer", added women to what had previously been male fan base; directed by former NYU undergraduate pal Frank Coraci; also marked first appearance as romantic leading man
1999 Executive produced and made uncredited cameo in the Rob Schneider vehicle "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo"
1999 Reteamed with director Dugan on "Big Daddy"; also contributed to screenplay with Herlihy and executive produced
2000 Co-wrote, executive produced and played title role in "Little Nicky"
2001 Served as executive producer on "Joe Dirt" and "The Animal"
2002 Starred opposite Winona Ryder in "Mr. Deeds", a loose reworking of "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town"
2002 Teamed with Paul Thomas Anderson playing opposite Emily Watson in the comedy "Punch-Drunk Love"; received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical
2002 Wrote, produced and voiced many of the characters in the animated feature "Adam Sandler's 8 Crazy Nights."
2003 Starred opposite Jack Nicholson in "Anger Management"
2004 Co-starred with Drew Barrymore in the comedy "50 First Dates," as Henry Roth a man who falls in love with a woman with short term memory loss
2004 Starred with Téa Leoni in the James L. Brooks comedy "Spanglish"
2005 Produced and starred as jailed ex-pro quarterback in the remake of the 1974 film "The Longest Yard"; reunites Sandler with director Peter Segal
"Discovered" by Dennis Miller while performing stand-up at The Improv in L.A.
Joined NBC's "Saturday Night Live" as a writer and occasional performer
Success of Opera Man character resulted in his officially joining regular cast of "SNL"
Will reunite with director Frank Coraci to star in the comedy "Click," as an architect who has the ability to fast-forward and rewind to different episodes in his life (lensed 2005)
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/3935/adamsandler229yi.jpg
with his Wife
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/8863/adamsandler398jf.jpg
I Love him with Drew Barrymore
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/9005/daddy1oh.jpg
Full Version: Adam Sandler
adam sandler is sooooooo funny. naturally funny. good actor too. 
i think hes such a funny actor, i love watching him because of big daddy
that movie was so cute. i loved all his movies ever since then
i even watch the ones that everyone say is stupid
it still gives me a good laugh, i just think hes such a talented and funny actor
even though hes not all that good looking
that movie was so cute. i loved all his movies ever since then
i even watch the ones that everyone say is stupid
it still gives me a good laugh, i just think hes such a talented and funny actor
even though hes not all that good looking
OMG, this guy is hilarious! He's so funny. I've watched some of his movie and I cannot stop laughing. I remember 50 first dates and some others. I realllllllly want to watch Click though =(
I reckon he's one of the most funniest comedian/actors out there today. I liked his latest movie "Click", was pretty funny.
Great comedian and have watched almost all his movies they are great and always funny one of the best along with Jim Carrey. Click was great I liked it alot.
"Click," the movie was pretty sad too. i was crying when i was watching that movie. adam sandler is one of my favorite actors and i liked everyone of his movies. fo sho
o I love his movies, Adam Sandler is definetly one of the funniest actors at the mo
man i love this guy he is funny. he seems kind dumb but in every movie he is in he makes you augh i think that s all it matters
He is a very funny man but sometimes he acts childish, but he has made some great movies eg CLICK so funny..
Raging 'Reign'
Film spins out of control with Sandler's latest angry man
March 23, 2007
BY RICHARD ROEPER Sun-Times Columnist
Even in his silliest Immature Man-Boy comedies, Adam Sandler would often put the baby-talk shtick on hold long enough to emit ferocious howls of rage punctuated by funny-scary violence.
" 'Happy Gilmore' tells the story of a violent sociopath," reads the lead to Roger Ebert's review of one of Sandler's most successful comedies.
Reunited college pals Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle, left) and Charlie Fineman (Adam Sandler) careen from moments of comedy to episodes of rage and near-suicide in "Reign Over Me," a post-9/11-themed drama.
Jada Pinkett Smith stars as a housewife dealing with the realities of everyday life in "Reign Over Me."
Columbia Pictures presents a film directed and written by Mike Binder. Running time: 124 minutes. Rated R (for language and some sexual references). Opening today at local theaters.
"The Water Boy," for one, was even more nutso. By the time Sandler was a big enough star to co-headline with Jack Nicholson in "Anger Management," he'd been playing characters with serious anger management issues for half a dozen years.
In Mike Binder's occasionally touching but maddeningly inconsistent "Reign Over Me," Sandler plays a 9/11 widower who is beyond mere counseling sessions for anger management. This man needs to be institutionalized before he does serious harm to another human being or to himself -- and to my great frustration, nobody in his life seems to comprehend that.
"Reign Over Me" is set in a street-level New York some four years after Sept. 11, 2001. Eschewing the standard shots of the Chrysler Building and other soaring landmarks, Binder skillfully paints a portrait of the city as a place of late-night Chinese restaurants and basement record stores, and office buildings that become communities unto themselves. He shows us New York the way most New Yorkers regard the city. They can go an entire day, maybe a week, without looking up.
In yet another of his beautifully modulated performances, Don Cheadle plays Alan Johnson, a successful dentist with a gorgeous and loving wife (Jada Pinkett Smith) and two beautiful daughters. Johnson seems to be suffering from a milder form of the married-man itch that plagues Chris Rock in "I Think I Love My Wife," but it's not Kerry Washington who shows up at his office with alarming regularity -- it's Sandler's Charlie Fineman, Johnson's former college roommate. When Alan first encounters Charlie (who has the shaggy hair and scraggly beard of Bob Dylan circa "Blood on the Tracks"), his old friend doesn't even remember him -- but soon they're hanging out at music clubs, attending Mel Brooks marathons and playing "Shadow of Colossus" on Charlie's ginormous-screen TV.
What they're not doing is talking about the past. Charlie's wife and three daughters and even the family dog were on one of the planes that was taken down on 9/11 -- and Charlie's grief goes beyond denial or post-traumatic stress syndrome. He refuses to acknowledge he had a family, and even the slightest inference of a reference to that tragedy spins Charlie into a fit of rage. One minute Charlie and Alan are in the middle of a buddy comedy -- riding a motorized scooter together through the city, laughing it up at "Blazing Saddles," jamming to Springsteen in Charlie's music room -- the next, Charlie is throwing a drink in Alan's face, trashing his office or throwing him against a wall.
Yet Alan puts up with all this because ... why? Because he genuinely wants to help Charlie, but mostly because (as his wife points out) he has some kind of twisted envy for Charlie's freewheeling, solo-man lifestyle. (Charlie is able to afford the spacious apartment and the work-free existence thanks to insurance settlements from 9/11.) Who wants to be married to a beautiful wife and have two great kids and a lucrative career when you can spend your days motor-scootering around the city, buying old vinyl albums, playing video games and listening to the Pretenders on your headphones?
Well, just about anyone. The video games and fast-food icon statues and the scooter notwithstanding, Charlie isn't one of those Adam Sandler man-boy characters who doesn't want to grow up -- he's a man who has been rendered clinically insane by the horrific murders of his family.
Also insane: the slinky Donna (Saffron Burrows), a beautiful and heartbroken woman who shows up in Alan's office on the pretense of having some minor work done, proceeds to offer to perform oral sex on him in his office -- and threatens him with a sexual harassment suit after he throws her out. She should be served with a restraining order, but instead she becomes part of the extended network of Friends of Charlie, along with a landlady who apparently spends all of her days looking after him and Liv Tyler as one of the least believable therapists in movie history. (Then again, the urbane Robert Klein plays Charlie's father-in-law, a former New York cop, and I ain't buying that one, either.)
Cheadle can do more with a smooth gearshift of eye movements than just about anyone else in the movies. Sandler delivers maybe his most sincere and authentic performance to date. (Though the scenes when he should be reducing viewers to tears are more wet-eye-inducing than tearjerking, probably because the moments seem shoehorned in and not honestly earned.) Pinkett Smith brings strength and heart to a role that requires her to spend most of the movie in Juicy Couture sweats, making dinner for the family and haranguing her husband about spending too much time with crazy Charlie. They're all so good in the scenes that ring true.
But when "Reign Over Me" misfires, it careens out of control. Charlie's fits of rage finally explode into a near-suicidal confrontation in which he commits multiple felonies -- yet nearly everyone save Charlie's in-laws fight against his being committed to a mental health facility. Donald Sutherland shows up out of nowhere to play a judge who presides over a hearing in which it is made abundantly clear that Charlie has lost touch with reality -- a hearing attended by everyone from Alan to the landlady to the girl therapist to the crazy predatory dental patient -- and the judge makes a "ruling" that would probably get him removed from the bench. After two hours and a number of repetitive scenes, characters start mouthing cliches like "Thank you -- for everything," and, "Just come home, OK?" and we hear "Love, Reign O'er Me" as a signal for the credits to kick in.
But it's not the Who's version (which we heard earlier) at the end -- it's a cover version from Pearl Jam. Eddie Vedder doesn't hit any sour notes; he just can't hit the soaring notes.
Much like the film.
RAGE ACTOR
Adam Sandler has depicted varying degrees of rage onscreen, but never as well as in:
'PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE'
Sandler plays a version of his usual childlike moron, but this one reveals frightening depths of violence, hurt and resentment. He tries to turn a bland face to the world, but erupts in sudden anger, and we sense his hurt and need. With Emily Watson as the sweet, peculiar woman who likes him -- no matter what. (R, 2002) Roger Ebert
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/movi...reign23.article
Film spins out of control with Sandler's latest angry man
March 23, 2007
BY RICHARD ROEPER Sun-Times Columnist
Even in his silliest Immature Man-Boy comedies, Adam Sandler would often put the baby-talk shtick on hold long enough to emit ferocious howls of rage punctuated by funny-scary violence.
" 'Happy Gilmore' tells the story of a violent sociopath," reads the lead to Roger Ebert's review of one of Sandler's most successful comedies.
Reunited college pals Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle, left) and Charlie Fineman (Adam Sandler) careen from moments of comedy to episodes of rage and near-suicide in "Reign Over Me," a post-9/11-themed drama.
Jada Pinkett Smith stars as a housewife dealing with the realities of everyday life in "Reign Over Me."
Columbia Pictures presents a film directed and written by Mike Binder. Running time: 124 minutes. Rated R (for language and some sexual references). Opening today at local theaters.
"The Water Boy," for one, was even more nutso. By the time Sandler was a big enough star to co-headline with Jack Nicholson in "Anger Management," he'd been playing characters with serious anger management issues for half a dozen years.
In Mike Binder's occasionally touching but maddeningly inconsistent "Reign Over Me," Sandler plays a 9/11 widower who is beyond mere counseling sessions for anger management. This man needs to be institutionalized before he does serious harm to another human being or to himself -- and to my great frustration, nobody in his life seems to comprehend that.
"Reign Over Me" is set in a street-level New York some four years after Sept. 11, 2001. Eschewing the standard shots of the Chrysler Building and other soaring landmarks, Binder skillfully paints a portrait of the city as a place of late-night Chinese restaurants and basement record stores, and office buildings that become communities unto themselves. He shows us New York the way most New Yorkers regard the city. They can go an entire day, maybe a week, without looking up.
In yet another of his beautifully modulated performances, Don Cheadle plays Alan Johnson, a successful dentist with a gorgeous and loving wife (Jada Pinkett Smith) and two beautiful daughters. Johnson seems to be suffering from a milder form of the married-man itch that plagues Chris Rock in "I Think I Love My Wife," but it's not Kerry Washington who shows up at his office with alarming regularity -- it's Sandler's Charlie Fineman, Johnson's former college roommate. When Alan first encounters Charlie (who has the shaggy hair and scraggly beard of Bob Dylan circa "Blood on the Tracks"), his old friend doesn't even remember him -- but soon they're hanging out at music clubs, attending Mel Brooks marathons and playing "Shadow of Colossus" on Charlie's ginormous-screen TV.
What they're not doing is talking about the past. Charlie's wife and three daughters and even the family dog were on one of the planes that was taken down on 9/11 -- and Charlie's grief goes beyond denial or post-traumatic stress syndrome. He refuses to acknowledge he had a family, and even the slightest inference of a reference to that tragedy spins Charlie into a fit of rage. One minute Charlie and Alan are in the middle of a buddy comedy -- riding a motorized scooter together through the city, laughing it up at "Blazing Saddles," jamming to Springsteen in Charlie's music room -- the next, Charlie is throwing a drink in Alan's face, trashing his office or throwing him against a wall.
Yet Alan puts up with all this because ... why? Because he genuinely wants to help Charlie, but mostly because (as his wife points out) he has some kind of twisted envy for Charlie's freewheeling, solo-man lifestyle. (Charlie is able to afford the spacious apartment and the work-free existence thanks to insurance settlements from 9/11.) Who wants to be married to a beautiful wife and have two great kids and a lucrative career when you can spend your days motor-scootering around the city, buying old vinyl albums, playing video games and listening to the Pretenders on your headphones?
Well, just about anyone. The video games and fast-food icon statues and the scooter notwithstanding, Charlie isn't one of those Adam Sandler man-boy characters who doesn't want to grow up -- he's a man who has been rendered clinically insane by the horrific murders of his family.
Also insane: the slinky Donna (Saffron Burrows), a beautiful and heartbroken woman who shows up in Alan's office on the pretense of having some minor work done, proceeds to offer to perform oral sex on him in his office -- and threatens him with a sexual harassment suit after he throws her out. She should be served with a restraining order, but instead she becomes part of the extended network of Friends of Charlie, along with a landlady who apparently spends all of her days looking after him and Liv Tyler as one of the least believable therapists in movie history. (Then again, the urbane Robert Klein plays Charlie's father-in-law, a former New York cop, and I ain't buying that one, either.)
Cheadle can do more with a smooth gearshift of eye movements than just about anyone else in the movies. Sandler delivers maybe his most sincere and authentic performance to date. (Though the scenes when he should be reducing viewers to tears are more wet-eye-inducing than tearjerking, probably because the moments seem shoehorned in and not honestly earned.) Pinkett Smith brings strength and heart to a role that requires her to spend most of the movie in Juicy Couture sweats, making dinner for the family and haranguing her husband about spending too much time with crazy Charlie. They're all so good in the scenes that ring true.
But when "Reign Over Me" misfires, it careens out of control. Charlie's fits of rage finally explode into a near-suicidal confrontation in which he commits multiple felonies -- yet nearly everyone save Charlie's in-laws fight against his being committed to a mental health facility. Donald Sutherland shows up out of nowhere to play a judge who presides over a hearing in which it is made abundantly clear that Charlie has lost touch with reality -- a hearing attended by everyone from Alan to the landlady to the girl therapist to the crazy predatory dental patient -- and the judge makes a "ruling" that would probably get him removed from the bench. After two hours and a number of repetitive scenes, characters start mouthing cliches like "Thank you -- for everything," and, "Just come home, OK?" and we hear "Love, Reign O'er Me" as a signal for the credits to kick in.
But it's not the Who's version (which we heard earlier) at the end -- it's a cover version from Pearl Jam. Eddie Vedder doesn't hit any sour notes; he just can't hit the soaring notes.
Much like the film.
RAGE ACTOR
Adam Sandler has depicted varying degrees of rage onscreen, but never as well as in:
'PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE'
Sandler plays a version of his usual childlike moron, but this one reveals frightening depths of violence, hurt and resentment. He tries to turn a bland face to the world, but erupts in sudden anger, and we sense his hurt and need. With Emily Watson as the sweet, peculiar woman who likes him -- no matter what. (R, 2002) Roger Ebert
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/movi...reign23.article
I can't wait to see him i now pronounce you chuck and larry with Jessica Biel in its gonna be funny
i really liked his movies when i was a kid but as i'v grown up they just don't seem as funny to me anymore...but his movie punch drunk love was great
haha, i love this guy! i'll take him over jim carrey any day!
i grew up to billy madison and happy gilmore and airheads. gawd, he was hilarious! i still memorise some lines from billy madison (what are you looking at, swan?!) -- SO FUNNY!
i grew up to billy madison and happy gilmore and airheads. gawd, he was hilarious! i still memorise some lines from billy madison (what are you looking at, swan?!) -- SO FUNNY!
I saw Punch Drunk Love at my library the other day. I think I'm going to rent it.
Here's the trailer for it, if you haven't seen the movie
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VNeZi1y_v88
I really want to see Reign on Me. It's like he's movie and evolving as an actor and comedian, but I'm not sure of his latest project which looks like a copy of Borat...we'll see...
Here's the trailer for it, if you haven't seen the movie
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VNeZi1y_v88
I really want to see Reign on Me. It's like he's movie and evolving as an actor and comedian, but I'm not sure of his latest project which looks like a copy of Borat...we'll see...
My favorite Adam Sandler movie is Billy Madison. It's pretty hilarious. I mean, he had to go through grade school at his adult age??? Hahahaha! I also love Little Nicky. He likes Popeye's Chicken the same way I do. Hehehe.
hahaha funny this guy is.. i love it when they have.. i mean he and Rob Schneider have a movie together.. i know they are best friends.. and they're tandem is one hell hilarious one.. 
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