Adam Sandler is a famous American
actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and musician. Today we're gonna tell you how
the Golden Raspberry Award record holder made it to the top of the Forbes lists and earned a
reputation as one of the nicest guys in Hollywood. How Adam Sandler lives, and how much he earns.
Adam Richard Sandler was born in Brooklyn, New York on September 9, 1966. Both of his
parents were descendants of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. The father of the future
actor Stanley worked as an electrical engineer, and his mother Judith was an elementary school
teacher. Adam was the youngest of four children. When he was five years old, his family
moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, where he spent his childhood. At school, the
future actor earned a reputation as the class clown. In his interviews, Sandler admitted that
he started joking because of the hot-tempered nature of his father: this was the way for
the boy to deescalate heated situations. As a teenager, the future actor was
a member of a large Jewish youth organization BBYO and did not forget his
roots. In fact, he speaks Hebrew fluently. As the actor recalls, his older brother pushed
him to show business, persuading him to try his hand at stand-up. After graduating from
high school, Adam took a course at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New
York, and then entered the famous Tisch School Of The Arts at New York University, from which
he graduated in 1991 with a bachelor's degree. Adam began acting before graduation.
The actor first appeared on the screen in The Cosby Show in 1987. He played a
small role in four episodes of season 4. At the same time, Adam kept earning a living
by performing in comedy clubs. At one of his performances, he attracted the attention
of the famous comedian Dennis Miller, who recommended the young actor to the
producers of the show Saturday Night Live. This is how he began working full-time
on television: first as a screenwriter, and then as a performing actor. He often
appeared in sketches, and also performed songs he composed. In this project, the actor
worked until 1995 and found his first success. In 1989, Adam made his film debut in the comedy
Going Overboard, where in fact he played himself, a young stand-up comedian. The film with a budget
of $800,000 did not receive a positive response from the audience, and critics described the
work of the actors as incompetent and untalented. Then Adam returned to television, starring
in an episode of ABC's educational show Afterschool Special and the series about the
life of an aspiring journalist The Marshall Chronicles. After that, he appeared in
a movie about police officers who fight criminals reincarnated as dogs, called The Dog
Police and in the independent film Shakes the Clown. Adam could also be seen in one of
the episodes of The Larry Sanders Show. In 1993, Adam and his colleagues from
Saturday Night Live starred in the movie Coneheads. In 1994, the musical comedy Airheads
was released about unsuccessful rock musicians, where Sandler played one of the three leading
roles along with Steve Buscemi and Brendan Fraser. Critics have again expressed their
negative opinion about the actor's work, but the movie has gained loyal fans.
Then, after a small role in the movie Mixed Nuts, where Sandler co-starred with the famous comedian
Steve Martin, Adam moved on to the project, which became a turning point in his
career, the comedy film Billy Madison. This time, using his experience as a screenwriter
of television shows, he wrote the script himself and played the main role, taking it very
seriously. Sometimes he even went too far. For example, in the dodgeball scene Adam got so
upset that he began throwing balls at children with all his might. The kids were crying for
real from the blows, too. For his work, Sandler received a nomination for the MTV Award for Best
Comedic Performance and a fee of $1.7 million. In the wake of his success, Adam
decided to write the script for his next film himself again. It was
the sports comedy Happy Gilmore, for which the actor received the MTV Movie
Award for Best Fight. But the next movie Bulletproof brought him a nomination for
the Golden Raspberry, and, as a consolation, a fee of $2.5 million. This nomination was the
first in a long chain of Adam's anti-awards. The second time he was nominated for
the Golden Raspberry for his next role in the 1998 film The Waterboy. He didn't
get the anti-award then, but received an MTV statuette for Best Comedic Performance.
By the way, in this film Adam not only played the main character and wrote the script, but
also acted as a producer for the first time. Then the actor had another commercial success,
the romantic comedy The Wedding Singer. The film turned out to be incredibly popular and brought in
more than 123 million dollars at the box office, ranking second in revenue in the first week of
the box office, second only to Titanic. For this role Sandler received an impressive fee of $5.5
million and an MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss. Then the actor kept getting more and more popular.
His comedy Big Daddy about a man who suddenly becomes a guardian of a child, brought him a fee
of $8 million and became a real hit. Critics at the same time noted dissonance between the crude
humor and the sentimental plot. This contradiction was reflected in the reviews of Sandler's
performance: his comedy role was simultaneously recognized as both the best and worst according
to MTV and the Golden Raspberry, respectively. By the way, Adam invented and created the action
figure of Diver Steve for the film himself, based on the memories of his childhood toy, Diver Dan.
But the main reward for this film for Adam was the acquaintance with the model and aspiring actress
Jackie Titone, who was approved for the modest role of a waitress. Later, the spark that arose
on the set will lead to a wedding, and Jackie, raised as a Christian, will even convert
to Adam's religion, Judaism. A magnificent wedding in Jewish tradition took place on the
ocean coast in Malibu. Adam's favorite bulldog, Meatball, brought the engagement rings to the
newlyweds. Since then, nothing scandalous or spicy about the actor's personal life has ever
been leaked to the media. The couple are still together and have two daughters: Sadie, born in
May 2006, and Sunny, born on November 2, 2008. But let's go back to 1999. This year Adam Sandler
founded his own production company Happy Madison Productions. In its name, he superstitiously
combined the titles of his first two successful films: Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison. From that
moment on, Happy Madison produced almost all the films starring Sandler. The company's trick
is that most of the employees are friends and like-minded people: they socialize as families
and invite each other into their projects. The first film released by the new company
was the comedy Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, where you can hear Sandler's voice, but he was not
even listed in the credits. Then they released the movie Little Nicky about the devil's beloved
son, who decides to take the side of good. Although the film failed to return its
massive $85 million budget, it was a success in a peculiar way, garnering almost
all of the major Golden Raspberry nominations: Worst Picture, Worst Actor, Worst
Supporting Actress, Worst Director, and Worst Screenplay. However, this did not
prevent Adam from earning a fee of $20 million. The next works of the celebrity
were the comedy The Animal about the owner of a pet store and the
animated film Eight Crazy Nights, where Adam's character tries to overcome
his problems in relationships with women. The appearance of the protagonist of the movie
was copied from a photograph of the actor when he was 19. And even this animated version of
Sandler was nominated for Raspberry again. The next film called Punch-Drunk Love occupies
a special place in Adam's career. Director Paul Thomas Anderson wrote the script considering the
participation of Sandler and Emily Watson, and it was a success. For the main role in the film,
the actor was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Other nice bonuses included an MTV Movie Award
nomination for Best Kiss and a fee of $7 million. For the next movie, Mr. Deeds, Adam received $20
million. There were some incidents on the set: during the filming of the fight, Sandler lost
his temper and hit his partner Allen Covert so hard that he fell to the ground, hit his head on
the pavement and lost consciousness for a minute. In the comedy Anger Management in
2003, Adam starred with Jack Nicholson and received a fee of $25 million.
By the way, in one of the scenes, Sandler's character appears in a T-shirt with the
symbols of the school he really went to. Notably, several copies of this film were
sent to military bases in Iraq, and Sandler accompanied them with an introduction
thanking the soldiers for their service. In the next movie, 50 First Dates, Adam met his favorite screen partner Drew
Barrymore. This collaboration brought an MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo
and $25 million to Sandler personally. Then, to star in the film Spanglish, the actor
refused a role in Michael Mann's film Collateral, and for the comedy The Longest Yard he was
nominated for an MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance. He received the same
nomination for the following movie Click. In his next project, Sandler played an
unexpected role. He initially refused the offer to play in the drama Reign Over Me
in 2007, although he liked the character very much. But about a month later, the actor
reread the script and agreed to shoot. In the same year, Adam returned to his
usual comedic role in the movie I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry and as usual won
a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor. For his next comedy, You Don't Mess with the
Zohan, Sandler worked hard with a trainer to sculpt six-pack abs. Although the
filmmakers offered him to use CGI, the actor refused and decided to
show real muscles on the screen. The 2008 film Bedtime Stories turned out to be
somewhat family-friendly. The little girl who picks up the hat of Sandler's character in the
medieval fragment is the actor's daughter Sadie, and her mother was played by Adam's wife Jackie.
Even the bulldog appearing in one of the scenes of the film is another pet of the Sandler family
named Matzoball. It was a gift from his wife when Meatball passed away at the age of four.
But the next comedy-drama Funny People can hardly be called family-friendly. The
actor repeatedly stated in interviews that he was embarrassed by the dirty jokes made in
the film. In particular, jokes about women, since his daughters can watch this film.
Since 2010, Sandler has produced only commercially profitable films. For his role
in Grown Ups he received a fee of $25 million, Jack and Jill brought him $ 20 million and
a total of 10 Golden Raspberry anti-awards, three of which went to Adam personally. The
fantasy comedy Zookeeper added $2 million to the actor's wallet, and the comedy
Just Go with It brought him $25 million. After that, the actor voiced the cartoon Hotel
Transylvania and earned several Golden Raspberry nominations for the film That's My Boy. He
even won the award for Worst Actor. By the way, critics call this movie a "114-minute
Budweiser commercial." A large part of the movie Sandler's character wears
a T-shirt of this brand of beer and in the trailer alone there are more
than a dozen shots of the beverage. The film Grown Ups 2 became the first
sequel in Sandler's career and again brought him 2 anti-award nominations.
The actor admitted that the creation of the first Grown Ups was more like a
friendly get-together than shooting. The actors and their families had one of the best
summer months of their lives with barbecues, sports, and walks. They wanted to experience
it again so they agreed to work on the sequel. In 2014, the film Blended was released, where
Sandler plays a single father who, together with his daughter, goes on vacation to Africa and meets
Drew Barrymore's character and her children. This, by the way, brought him another nomination
for Raspberry. So did the work in The Cobbler, about a shoemaker in New York City who
discovers that he can transform into any person by putting on their shoes. Funnily
enough, Sandler means shoemaker in Yiddish. In the same year, the actor appeared in an
episode of the TV series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the comedy Top Five, and the comedy-drama
Men, Women & Children. In the latter, Adam plays a father who tries to keep his
family together, despite the fact that they live in the age of digital technology
and communication via the Internet. In the next film, Pixels, Sandler paid tribute
to his college roommate Eric Lamonsoff and named one of the characters after him. The surname
Lamonsoff often appears in the works of the actor. The 2015 film The Ridiculous 6 is
the first western in Adam's career. It became the first film produced by
Sandler for the Netflix service. The contract with this streaming service for
4 projects brought the actor $250 million. In the same year, Adam's friends and
relatives, including his daughters, 9-year-old Sadie and 6-year-old Sunny,
participated in the voice acting of the cartoon Hotel Transylvania 2. In the film
The Do-Over, also released on Netflix, Adam plays the role of an FBI agent, and
his real-life daughters appeared as his on-screen children again. Sandler's wife Jackie
and nephew Jared also play in the movie. And the nameplates at homecoming show the real name of
the school Adam went to as a kid in Manchester. During the same period, Adam can be
seen in episodes of the TV series Real Rob and the talk show Chelsea.
In 2017, 20 years after Happy Gilmore, there was another Ben Stiller and Adam Sandler
collaboration, the film The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected). This picture was nominated
for the Palme d'Or Award and won the Palm Dog Award at the Cannes Film Festival,
receiving a four-minute standing ovation. After that, Adam kept making films
intertwined with his real life, and released the film Sandy Wexler, based
on the story of his manager Sandy Wernick. The roles of little girls were again
performed by the actor's daughters. Next, Sandler voiced the animated
films Puppy! and Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. His next projects
with Netflix were The Week Of and Murder Mystery. The latter brought
the actor a fee of $20 million. Another attempt to try his hand at an unfamiliar
genre was Sandler's work on the thriller Uncut Gems. Adam's wife read the script and convinced
him to accept the role. To transform into his character, the actor put on false teeth and
glued a mole on his right cheek. The result was another Golden Raspberry nomination, this
time a positive Razzie Redeemer Award. Another 3 anti-award nominations were earned by
the actor's next film, Hubie Halloween. In 2022, the premiere of the
sports movie Hustle took place, for the role in which the actor received a rare
in his career positive nomination, a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance.
On March 31 this year, the action comedy Murder Mystery 2 was released on Netflix. In it,
Sandler co-starred with Jennifer Aniston. Fans are also looking forward to
Adam's further announced works: the sci-fi drama Spaceman and the animated
musical Leo. It is also reported that the production of the comedy You Are So Not
Invited to My Bat Mitzvah is completed, and preparations are underway to shoot a
joint project with the Safdie brothers. In 2020, Sandler managed to take ninth place in
the annual ranking of the highest-paid actors according to Forbes. At that time, his net
worth was a whopping $420 million. The actor wisely enters into contracts, receiving
a percentage of the fees. For example, for Anger Management Sandler received
an advance of $25 million, as well as 25% of the gross of the film, which added
$37.5 million to his fee. Now his fortune, according to various estimates, ranges
from 440 to 480 million dollars. Of course, Sandler's income also comes from
additional sources. Such as, for example, the 1990 MasterCard ad. Adam has also released 5 music
albums. The songs sound more like comedy sketches of different genres, but 2 records have received
platinum status, and 2 others were awarded gold. Adam Sandler's garage has a Dodge Challenger
and a roomy Cadillac Escalade Hybrid. It is also reported that the actor owns the
most exclusive and expensive golf cart in the world made by the Pennwick brand.
As for Sandler's real estate portfolio, it is estimated at $50-60 million. He
has purchased houses on both the east and west coasts of the United States, including Los
Angeles, Malibu, Boca Raton, and New Hampshire. Adam currently lives in Los
Angeles. He bought this house in 2004 for $12-13 million. The
mansion with an area of almost 13,000 square feet previously belonged to Kurt
Russell and Goldie Hawn. The property includes an outdoor swimming pool and a spacious terrace. The
actor also bought a neighboring house with an area of about 4,000 square feet, and the total cost
of the two objects is estimated at $28 million. In 2001, the Sandler family bought a house
in Malibu for $3.9 million. This one-storey building with an area of 1300 square feet is
located right on the beach. In rare photos, you can see a patio and a glass roof running
through the whole house. Interestingly enough, the estimated value of this property has
almost doubled over the past few years. Sandler also bought an apartment in the
Highland Beach area of Boca Raton, Florida. The condominium is estimated at about $1,250,000.
Funnily enough, the parents of the successful Hollywood actor decided not to acquire new real
estate, and Judith Sandler still lives in the same house where Adam spent his childhood.
Unfortunately, the actor's dad died in 2003. Despite the fact that Sandler ranks
second among Hollywood stars in the number of anti-awards and nominations for
the Golden Raspberry, on March 19, 2023, he was awarded the honorary Mark Twain Award
for his contribution to American humor. However, as the actor says himself, he doesn't care
about the critics' recognition, because he didn't become an actor to please them, but to
make people laugh and have fun with friends. By the way, Adam loves friends and colleagues so
much that he is willing to give them luxurious gifts. He bought cars for many people and earned
a reputation as a respected and beloved guy. It's also worth noting Sandler's charitable
activities. He once gave a million dollars to a children's club in his hometown and often
donates money for the treatment of children. It seems that Adam Sandler has
really figured out the secret of a happy and successful life. Leave a
like on this video and let us know in the comments which one of Sandler's
comedies makes you laugh the most.
