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 New York University. 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 successful, it did register as another solid hit for Sandler. While helping fellow SNL alumnus 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.
Out of the limelight for a stretch to spend time with his new family—he and his wife had a baby girl in May 2006—Sandler returned with a new comedy, “Click” (2006), in which he played—yet again—a misunderstood everyman. This time he was a hard-working architect whose life passes him by while he tries to impress his slick and ungrateful boss (David Hasselhoff). While shopping at a kitchen and bathroom store, he stumbles into the back room where he meets a strange employee who gives him a remote control that allows him to rewind, fast-forward or pause his life. But as the device starts to decide what events he’ll experience and which he won’t, he begins to have appreciation for everything in his life—good and bad.
Sandler made another sojourn to the arena of drama in “Reign Over Me” (2007), playing a formerly successful dentists who lost his family in the 9/11 terrorist attacks and is found five years later by his former college roommate (Don Cheadle) at a time when both could use a trusted friend in their lives. Prior to the film’s opening, Sandler filled in for a suddenly ailing David Letterman on the “Late Show with David Letterman” (CBS, 1993- ). Not having any interviewing experience, Sandler spent the first segment practicing his technique with his dog, Matzoball, prior to his chat with “Reign” costar Don Cheadle. Returning to the goofy comedies of films past, Sandler was in “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” (2007), starring as a heterosexual firefighter who feigns marriage with another fireman (Kevin James) in order to qualify for the department’s domestic partner benefits.