- Born
- Birth nameAdam Richard Sandler
- Nickname
- Sandman
- Height5′ 9¾″ (1.77 m)
- Adam Richard Sandler was born September 9, 1966 in Brooklyn, New York, to Judith (Levine), a teacher at a nursery school, and Stanley Alan Sandler, an electrical engineer. He is of Russian Jewish descent. At 17, he took his first step towards becoming a stand-up comedian when he spontaneously took the stage at a Boston comedy club. He found he was a natural comic. He nurtured his talent while at New York University (graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1991) by performing regularly in clubs and at universities. During his freshman year, he snagged a recurring role as the Huxtable family's friend Smitty on The Cosby Show (1984). While working at a comedy club in L.A., he was "discovered" by Dennis Miller, who recommended him to Saturday Night Live (1975) producer Lorne Michaels and told him that Sandler had a big talent. This led to his being cast in the show in 1990, which he also wrote for in addition to performing. After Saturday Night Live (1975), Sandler went on to the movies, starring in such hit comedies as Airheads (1994), Happy Gilmore (1996), Billy Madison (1995) and Big Daddy (1999). He has also starred in Mr. Deeds (2002) alongside Winona Ryder; Eight Crazy Nights (2002), an animated movie about the Jewish festival of Chanukah; and Punch-Drunk Love (2002). He also writes and produces many of his own films and has composed songs for several of them, including The Wedding Singer (1998). Sandler has had several of his songs placed on the "Billboard" charts, including the classic "The Chanukah Song".- IMDb Mini Biography By: A. Nonymous
- SpouseJackie Sandler(June 22, 2003 - present) (2 children)
- Children
- Parents
- RelativesScott Sandler(Sibling)Valerie Sandler(Sibling)Elizabeth Sandler(Sibling)Tyler Spindel(Niece or Nephew)Jared Sandler(Niece or Nephew)
- Often casts Allen Covert, Blake Clark, Peter Dante, Jonathan Loughran, Steve Buscemi, Henry Winkler and former Saturday Night Live (1975) players in his films
- His characters often have a penchant for a particular brand name food (e.g. Snack Packs, Subway, Popeye's chicken, etc.)
- Often plays a character with a bad temper, or a short fuse
- Frequently appears in Rob Schneider films either with a large role or a small cameo
- Frequently uses 1980s music for the soundtrack of his movies
- According to Forbes magazine, Sandler was the second highest earning actor, along with Leonardo DiCaprio, earning $37 million from 2011-2012.
- His beloved dog, Meatball, who also has a section on Adam's official website with photos and videos, passed away due to a heart attack, at 4 years old. He was the son of Mr. Beefy, the talking dog in Little Nicky (2000). Meatball was best "man" at Sandler's wedding and was dressed in a tux, with a yarmulke on his head [January 27, 2004].
- Sandler revealed in 2010 during an interview on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993) that he and Chris Farley were fired from Saturday Night Live (1975) in 1995.
- He was originally set to play taxi driver Max in Collateral (2004), opposite Tom Cruise, but he backed out to work on Spanglish (2004). Jamie Foxx was cast in Collateral (2004) instead. Jamie Foxx went on to be nominated for an Academy Award for the role.
- Enjoys filming at locations near a gym so he can play basketball on his breaks. He plays once or twice a day.
- [after getting laser eye surgery] Now I realize how ugly I am.
- I never had a speech from my father [saying], "This is what you must do or shouldn't do", but I just learned to be led by example. My father wasn't perfect. He had a temper. I took some of that. He would snap, but the older he got, he started calming down. He learned about life, but the thing that he taught my whole family was that family was the most important thing and, no matter what, if a family member needs you, you go and help them out, you get there. He just made us feel comfortable and respectful to other families, my mother also... part of my father having a temper led to me developing a sense of humor to calm the old man down. That kind of sense of humor.
- I wasn't a kid growing up thinking, "One day, I'll get an Oscar and make a speech." That wasn't on my mind. I want to just do the best work I can do.
- To be honest with you, when I got into this I never thought about reviews. I never thought about what people would say about me. I was just a young guy who was excited to become a comedian and an actor and I just wanted to get to do what I got to do.
- [on how he became involved in Click (2006)] If it's something I feel I can do alright, I like being in those, and some that I think Rob Schneider and David Spade would be funnier at than me, I tell them to do it. I don't have any clue how we decide. There's this thing, this "Click", actually, one of my friends called me up, my partner told me about this idea that Steve Koren had. Steve Koren, by the way, the guy who wrote it with Mark O'Keefe, Steve Koren I've known since I was 22. He was a page at Saturday Night Live (1975). He would answer the phones and he'd give us phone messages and then he'd give you a message and he'd say, "Oh yeah. I wrote a joke." And he'd tell you the joke and you go, "Hey. Steve Koren's pretty funny" and then all of a sudden he's written Bruce Almighty (2003) and this thing and he's a giant writer and he's just a great guy. And anyway, they told me about the premise of the movie and asked if I was interested in that and I didn't even read the script, I just said, "Yeah. That's a huge idea, it sounds great." That's how I decided to do this script, just off three sentences about what the movie's about, I knew it could be awesome.
- Murder Mystery 2 (2023) - $25,000,000 +producer fee+back end
- Murder Mystery (2019) - $20,000,000 (includes producer fee)
- The Ridiculous 6 (2015) - $62 .5,000,000
- Grown Ups 2 (2013) - $25,000,000 (includes producer fee)
- Jack and Jill (2011) - $20,000,000 (includes producer fee)
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