For our final project I decided to research about Adam Sandler. The reasons as to why I chose to write about him are many. I love all of Adam Sandler’s movies and I think he is a brilliant comedian/actor. Adam Sandler was born on September 9th, 1996 in Brooklyn, New York. His parents are Judith and Stanley Sandler. His mother was a nursery school teacher and his father was an electrical engineer. Adam is of a Russian Jewish descent. He attended Manchester Central high school which is where he had earned his reputation of being the class clown. He was always the class clown but never really considered becoming a comedian or stand-up comedian until he just decided to take the stage at a Boston comedy club. That is where he found out that he was a natural comic. He still went to college, at the Lee Strasberg Theater and film institute and it was there that he decided to work on his talent by performing regularly in clubs and at universities. He also attended the Tisch School of the Arts, where he graduated with his bachelor’s degree in acting. He ended up marrying Jackie Samantha Titone in June 2003, they are currently still married and have two daughters Sadie and Sunny.
Now back to how he got where he is today. When he was only a freshman in college he got a recurring role as the Huxtable family’s friend Smitty on the Cosby Show in 1984. While he was working at a comedy club in Los Angles he was discovered by Dennis Miller who then recommended Sandler to Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels and told him that Sandler had some big talent. Adam was then cast in the show, which he also wrote for as well as performing. He remained with the show for five years where he gained a lot of popularity for his juvenile, crazy ways. Although he did start appearing in films during the late 80’s, it was during the 90’s that he started actually getting recognition for his movies. He was in the movie “Coneheads” and others in 1993. Then in 1994 he co-starred in “Airheads” with Brendan Fraser and Steve Buscemi. He then went on to have a string of successful films continue into the late 90’s.
One movie he got a lot of notice from his role in “Happy Gilmore”. Which then was followed by his comedic role in “The Wedding Singer”. After doing all that he still went on to further his career by founding his own company “Happy Madison Productions” in 1999. Since starting his own company he has produced many films under the production company. The first one he produced was with his SNL co-star Rob Schneider, whose film it was called “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo”. Sandler is very well known for casting fellow SNL performers in his films with various roles. During the 1990’s though he made a series of comedy albums as well which were all certified double platinum. Adam Sandler was and still is a very successful actor/comedian, he has been in many films and has produced many as well. With all the success he has some movies that are his major works. One of his biggest movies was one that was already mentioned which was “Happy Gilmore”.
Another one of his memorable successes was “Funny People”. He was co-starred with Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann, the movie was received positively with critics praising the movie and Sandler’s performance especially. He has had many other movies that have been successes. Here are only a few, Grownups, Grownups 2, 50 first dates, Big Daddy, Little Nicky, Mr. Deeds, Anger Management, The Longest Yard, Zookeeper, Jack and Jill and so many more. Some movies that are not listed here are movies like “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry” where he played a straight firefighter who pretends to be gay with a widowed firefighter so that his friend can get domestic partner benefits for him and his children.
After that he played an Israeli military personal who fakes his own death to move to America and pursue his dream of becoming a hairdresser in “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan”. This movie is one of the movies that he not only starred in he also co-wrote and produced. He decided to continue to work behind the scenes in the movie “The House Bunny” where he served as a producer. One of his most successful movies was one that has been named and that is “Jack and Jill”. The movie was seemingly bullet proof at the box office where he raked in more than $26 million for the first weekend which is remarkable because it was widely maligned by critics.
With being a successful actor and producer he also is very charitable. Adam has made a $1 million donation to the Boys and Girls Club in Manchester, New Hampshire in 2007. With all his success he has won many different awards and achievements. In 2002 Sandler won the Gijon International Film Festival Best Actor award for “Punch-Drunk Love”. In 2014 he was named Male Star of the Year at the CinemaCon Awards. Finally he has also been the recipient of several People’s Choice Awards which includes Favorite Comedic Movie Actor for four consecutive years spanning from the year 2012 to 2015.
Another thing that Adam Sandler does outside of acting is that he has made several comedy albums. His first Grammy-nominated album was “They’re All Gonna Laugh At You”. This album was an instant hit and actually made Sandler’s fan base among young people expand through offensive songs and sketches. As one can see Adam Sandler is a success story, he had a dream and pursued it. He is now has an estimated net worth of $360 million. Adam Sandler is an all-around great actor. He can do so many things and be successful in everything he does.
I chose to write about Adam Sandler for many reasons. To me all his movies are successful and funny, although many people may not agree. He has a certain kind of humor that you have to have to be able to watch his movies. Some people may not think his humor is particularly funny and will not watch his movies. This class has helped me realize the different kind of comedies that I like and the different kinds of comedians I like. It taught me more about different things to look for when it comes to comedies and since then I have watched some of Adam Sandler’s movies and looked to see if I could find any of them in his movies. I have been able to and I think that it is something so great to be able to watch a movie and point things out that I have learned.
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