SANDLER, ADAM RICHARD

SANDLER, ADAM RICHARD (1966– ), U.S. actor, screen-writer, musician. Sandler was born in Brooklyn, New York, but spent his childhood and teenage years in Manchester, N.H., where most of his family continued to reside. Sandler was discovered in a New York comedy club by Saturday Night Live (SNL) member Dennis Miller. He was a SNL cast member for five years, creating such notable characters as Opera Man, Canteen Boy, and Cajun Man. In 1996, his "Chanukah Song" became one of the most requested holiday songs on radio. Sandler appeared in over a dozen feature films, specializing in broad, physical comedy, from the early Coneheads (1993), to Billy Madison (1995) and Happy Gilmore (1996), on which he shared screenwriting credit, to the title roles in The Wedding Singer (1998), The Waterboy (1998), and Big Daddy (1999). He turned to dramatic roles with Punch-Drunk Love (2002) and in 2005 reprised the role of prison inmate/former pro quarterback Paul Crewe, originally played in 1974 by Burt Reynolds, in The Longest Yard. With Adam Sandler's 8 Crazy Nights, Sandler created the first feature length animated Chanukah musical (2002). He also appeared in Anger Management with Jack Nicholson (2003), James Brooks' Spanglish (2004), and 50 First Dates with Drew Barrymore (2004). (Amy Handelsman (2nd ed.)