Interesting Facts About Adam Sandler

Comedian and actor Adam Sandler first won notice with his hilarious stand-up routines. He became one of the most popular cast members of the television show Saturday Night Live during the early 1990s. His success on the long-running comedy show launched him to superstardom.

He was born Adam Richard Sandler in Brooklyn, New York. He was one of seven children. The family soon moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, where in school, Sandler became known as the class clown. But he never thought about being a professional comedian. Then one night, his brother pushed the 17-year-old Sandler onto the stage at a Boston comedy-club amateur night. The laughs got him hooked. But he still suffered terrible stage fright until—again at his brother's suggestion—Sandler started singing funny songs as part of his act. Playing music calmed his nerves; it even helped distinguish his act during the 1980s stand-up boom.

Sandler continued to perform while attending New York University. He landed a recurring role on TV's The Cosby Show, then on one of MTV's game shows, Remote Control. He made his first film appearance in Going Overboard (1989). Sandler's career took its biggest leap when his performance at a Los Angeles comedy club caught the attention of Saturday Night Live (SNL) star Dennis Miller. Miller convinced SNL producer Lorne Michaels to take Sandler on; the young comic joined the show as a writer in 1990. He was soon in front of the camera as well. Over the next five years, Sandler kept fans laughing with his running characters such as Canteen Boy and Opera Man, as well as musical impersonations of singers such as Bruce Springsteen, Axl Rose, and Eddie Vedder.

Sandler left Saturday Night Live in 1995. He had earned a Grammy nomination with his 1993 comedy album, They're All Gonna Laugh at You!. And although the film Airheads (1994) had flopped, the Sandler vehicle Billy Madison (1995) began to establish him as a viable comedic lead. He followed up with Happy Gilmore (1996), which, like Madison, featured plenty of juvenile humor and Sandler playing a crass, dull-witted loser. The formula worked; Sandler found himself the buffoon king to a legion of devoted fans. He achieved genuine stardom with the box-office hits The Wedding Singer (1998) and The Waterboy (1998). He continued his success with Big Daddy (1999) and Little Nicky (2000). For the latter, he was paid Hollywood top dollar for the time: $20 million.

Somehow Sandler had managed to break the curse that seemed to hang over the film careers of other Saturday Night Live alumni. In 2002, he made another Sandler-style film, Mr. Deeds, but also earned some good notices for director Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love. He branched out into animation with the Chanukah-themed Eight Crazy Nights. Sandler had a huge hit with "The Chanukah Song," a humorous carol for the Jewish holiday that has become a radio-station staple each holiday season. In 2003, he teamed with film legend Jack Nicholson for the movie Anger Management. His string of box-office hits continued in 2004 with 50 First Dates and Spanglish. In 2005, he appeared in the football comedy The Longest Yard. Sandler married Jackie Titone in 2003. The couple have a daughter, Sadie, born in 2006.

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