Sandler was a cast member on the NBCsketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1990 to 1995. He returned to Saturday Night Live as a host in 2019 earning a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. He has starred in Hollywood comedy films that cumulatively grossed over $2 billion worldwide.[3][4] Sandler had an estimated net worth of $420 million in 2020, and signed a new four-movie deal with Netflix worth over $250 million.[5]
Sandler starred in Billy Madison (1995) playing a grown man repeating grades 1–12 to earn back his father's respect and the right to inherit his father's multimillion-dollar hotel empire. The film was successful at the box office despite negative reviews. He followed this film with Bulletproof (1996), and the financially successful comedies Happy Gilmore (1996) and The Wedding Singer (1998), his first collaboration with Drew Barrymore. 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 big hits.
Although his earlier commercially successful films did not receive favorable critical attention, Sandler started to receive more positive reviews beginning with his more dramatic role in Punch-Drunk Love in 2002. Punch-Drunk Love's writer and director, Paul Thomas Anderson, had an "obsession-level" love for Sandler's previous movies and wrote the film with him in mind.[19] Sandler was intimidated to work with Anderson upon viewing his previous film Magnolia (2000), but these fears were alleviated upon receiving the script from Anderson.[20]Roger Ebert's review of Punch-Drunk Love concluded that Sandler had been wasted in earlier films with poorly written scripts and characters with no development. Ebert noted that Sandler's character still maintained the "childlike, love-starved" persona from his previous films, but was shown in a new light as the "key to all Adam Sandler films".[21] Sandler was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance.[20] The film marked the beginning of Sandler moving outside the genre of slapstick comedy to take on more serious roles, such as Mike Binder's Reign Over Me (2007), a drama about a man who loses his entire family in the September 11 attacks and then struggles to rekindle a friendship with his old college roommate (Don Cheadle).
In 2009, Sandler starred in Apatow's third directorial feature, Funny People, a comedy drama about a famous comedian (Sandler) with a terminal illness. The film was released on July 31, 2009.[23] After its release, Funny People and 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.[24]
In 2010, Sandler appeared in Grown Ups, alongside Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade, Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, and Maya Rudolph. Sandler and Dickie Roberts scribe Fred Wolf wrote the script and Dennis Dugan directed.[25] Sandler's later comedy films, including Grown Ups and Grown Ups 2, received largely negative reviews.[26] Reviewing the latter, critic Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times remarked that Sandler had become the antithesis of Judd Apatow; he was instead "the white Tyler Perry: smart enough to know better, savvy enough to do it anyway, lazy enough not to care."[27] The next year, Sandler starred with Jennifer Aniston in the romantic comedy film Just Go with It.[28] He also voiced a capuchin monkey in Kevin James's Zookeeper, released on July 8, 2011. In 2012, he starred in That's My Boy, as a man who fathered a son (Andy Samberg) with his teacher (Eva Amurri) in high school. In 2013, he guest starred in the Disney Channel Original SeriesJessie as himself in the episode "Punched Dumped Love". He and Jessie star Cameron Boyce had worked together in Grown Ups and Grown Ups 2; Sandler's 2020 film Hubie Halloween was dedicated to Boyce's memory. Sandler next reunited with Drew Barrymore for a third time in the Warner Bros. romantic comedy Blended, which was filmed in South Africa and released on May 23, 2014.
2014-present: Final theatrical films and switch to Netflix
In 2015, Sandler released his last theatrical film, Pixels, based on French director Patrick Jean's 2010 short film of the same name, before transitioning into a distribution deal with Netflix.
Sandler's first original film for Netflix was the Western comedy film The Ridiculous 6. Despite being universally panned by critics,[33] on January 6, 2016, it was announced by Netflix that the film had been viewed more times in 30 days than any other movie in Netflix history.[34] Sandler also starred in another Netflix film in 2016, titled The Do-Over.
Sandler starred in the 2017 Netflix film Sandy Wexler, in which he plays a talent manager who falls in love with one of his clients. He returned to dramatic territory in 2017 with Noah Baumbach's family drama The Meyerowitz Stories. In the film, Sandler plays Danny Meyerowitz, who is unemployed and separated from his wife. His experiencing dysfunctional relationships with his brother (Ben Stiller), his sister (Elizabeth Marvel), and his father (Dustin Hoffman). The film premiered in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival where his performance received favorable notices from critics.[6] Peter Debruge, film critic for Variety, wrote of his performance, "With no shtick to fall back on, Sandler is forced to act, and it's a glorious thing to watch".[35]
In 2018, Sandler starred in the Netflix film The Week Of alongside Chris Rock. He also starred in a Netflix stand-up special Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh, which was part of his company's Netflix deal and marked his first stand-up film in over two decades. The special was directed by longtime collaborator Steven Brill, while portions of the special was filmed by Paul Thomas Anderson, which marked his first project with Sandler since Punch-Drunk Love sixteen years prior.[36]
In December 2019, Sandler starred in the crime thriller drama Uncut Gems, directed by the Safdie brothers.[40] The movie and Sandler's acting received critical acclaim and many end-of-year awards from critics, who noted this role as a career best for Sandler, for which he earned the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead.[41][42]
In January 2020, Netflix announced a new four-movie deal with Happy Madison Productions worth up to $275 million.[43] Sandler starred in and wrote the 2020 Netflix film Hubie Halloween. Besides, he voiced Leo the lizard in a Netflix's animated coming-of-age musical Leo.[44]
In 2024, Sandler starred in his second Netflix stand-up comedy special, Adam Sandler: Love You, which was directed by Josh Safdie.[48] He also starred in the science fiction drama film Spaceman, an adaptation of the science fiction novel Spaceman of Bohemia (2017), directed by Johan Renck.[49]
Also in 2024, Sandler was named the People's Choice Icon at the 49th People's Choice Awards.[50] In March 2024, Forbes announced that Sandler was the best-paid actor in Hollywood in 2023, earning $73 million.[51]
In 2021, Vogue named Sandler the year's fashion icon for popularizing a "grocery-run look", characterized by oversized T-shirts, XXL pants, and Nike sneakers dubbed as "Adam Sandler style".[56] Menswear brand Old Jewish Men sells a line of basketball shorts inspired by the style.[57] Speaking on the title with Esquire, Sandler remarked: "It took a while. I was working that angle for years. For a while I was like, 'Please accept me and the way I dress.' And 30 years later, they finally came around."[58]
Personal life
Sandler has been married to Jacqueline "Jackie" Sandler (née Titone) since 2003.[59] She converted to Sandler's religion, Judaism.[60] The couple have two daughters, Sadie (b. May 2006)[61] and Sunny (b. November 2008).[62] Through his wife, Sandler is the son-in-law of politician Joseph H. Titone.[63][64] Sandler's wife and children often appear in his films. Both Sadie and Sunny have each appeared in at least two of the Hotel Transylvania movie series. [65][66] Adam's nephew Jared has also been featured in his films, such as Pixels and Home Team.[67]
"The Peeper" was made into a flash cartoon, launched over the 1999 Labor Day weekend as a promotion for Stan and Judy's Kid and was watched by over 1 million users during that period, one of the most-watched video clips on the internet at the time.[76]
^ ab"Adam Sandler Biography (1966?-)". FilmReference.com. Retrieved December 24, 2014. Full name, Adam Richard Sandler; born September 9, 1966 (some sources cite 1964)...
^RetroRex. "Half-Life: Opposing Force". VGFacts. Archived from the original on August 12, 2017. Retrieved August 11, 2017. There is a hidden message on the upper skybox texture in the V-22 osprey g-man sequence. It reads "HACK HACK HACK ALL DAY LONG. HACK HACK HACK WHILE I SING THIS SONG". This is a reference to the Adam Sandler song "The Beating Of A High School Janitor.
Steve Baker, Ricky Blitt, Will Carlough, Tobias Carlson, Jacob Fleisher, Patrik Forsberg, Will Graham, James Gunn, Claes Kjellstrom, Jack Kukoda, Bob Odenkirk, Bill O'Malley, Matthew Alec Portenoy, Greg Pritikin, Rocky Russo, Olle Sarri, Elizabeth Wright Shapiro, Jeremy Sosenko, Jonathan van Tulleken, and Jonas Wittenmark – Movie 43 (2013)