Adam Richard Sandler is one of the funniest comedic actors of our time. Sandler was born in Brooklyn, New York, on September 9, 1966. He grew up in Manchester, New Hampshire, after moving there at the age of six. Sandler graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 1988. A year prior, he played Theo Huxtable’s friend Smitty on The Cosby Show and was on the MTV game show Remote Control. His film debut was in the 1989 comedy Going Overboard.

Sandler also performed in comedy clubs, first taking the stage when he was 17. He was discovered by comedian Dennis Miller, who recommended him to Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels. Sandler was hired as a writer for SNL in 1990 and became a featured player the following year. By 1995, NBC hired Sandler and Chris Farley, but in 2019, he hosted the show and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award.

Career Success

In 1993, Sandler appeared in the Coneheads with Farley, David Spade, Dan Aykroyd, Phil Hartman, and Jane Curtin. In 1994, he co-starred in Airheads with Brendan Fraser and Steve Buscemi. Sandler’s comedic roles include Billy Madison (1995), Happy Gilmore (1996), The Waterboy (1998), The Wedding Singer (1998), Big Daddy (1999), Mr. Deeds (2002), 50 First Dates (2004), The Longest Yard (2005), Click (2006), Grown Ups (2010), Just Go with It (2011), Grown Ups 2 (2013), Blended (2014), Murder Mystery (2019) and Hubie Halloween (2020). He has also taken on dramatic roles such as in Punch-Drunk Love (2002), Reign Over Me (2007), The Meyerowitz Stories (2017), Uncut Gems (2019), and Hustle (2022), with the latter three ranked as his major career highlights.

Besides acting, Sandler is also a lover of basketball and often plays pickup basketball games across the country, sometimes with other celebrities like J. Cole and Timothee Chalamet. As for his personal style, in 2021, Vogue named Sandler as the year’s fashion icon for popularizing a “grocery-run look.” This is characterized by oversized T-shirts, XXL pants, and Nike sneakers. Speaking of the title with Esquire, Sandler said in deadpan, “It took a while. I was working that angle for years. For a while I was like, ‘Please accept me and the way I dress.’ And 30 years later, they finally came around.”

Take a look below at our top picks of Adam Sandler’s best movies, ranked.

• 8. Little Nicky

  This 2000 comedy is probably the most out there of all of Sandler’s films. He plays the kind and naive Nicky, whose mom is an angel and dad is the devil. His two evil brothers Adrian (Rhys Ifans) and Cassius (Tommy Lister Jr.) have just escaped from Hell and are wreaking havoc on earth. The film is silly but that is the fun thing about Little Nicky.

• 7. Eight Crazy Nights

  This 2002 animated comedy musical is one of our favorite works of Sandler. He voiced three characters in the film: Davey, Whitey, and Eleanore, and boy, he ran wild with it. Though rated PG-13, the Hanukkah feature has more than its fair share of inappropriate and gross-out humor, which we thoroughly enjoy.

• 6. Anger Management

  In 2003, two actors who we love seeing get angry filmed a whole movie about being angry. Jack Nicholson plays an unorthodox anger management teacher, who pushes Sandler’s character to the limit time and time again. The film is highly entertaining and infuriating watching Nicholson mess with him in order to overcome his anger problems.

• 5. Mr. Deeds

  This 2002 rom-com is a great rags-to-riches story. It’s a remake of the 1936 Frank Capra film Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. The story follows Sandler’s Deeds, who inherits a $40 billion dollar fortune. With Winona Ryder as his love interest and other co-stars like John Tuturro, Peter Gallagher, Steve Buscemi, and Peter Dante, the film is an enjoyable watch.

• 4. Click

  2006’s Click changed the way we thought of the “beyond” in Bed Bath & Beyond stores. In the comedy-drama film, Christopher Walken fittingly plays an eccentric inventor who gives Sandler’s character a universal remote that controls time. Though he first has fun with the power and skips through boring times, he realizes he wants to cherish all of those precious moments with his family.

• 3. Big Daddy

  In this 1999 comedy-drama, the Sprouse twins (Cole and Dylan) play Sandler’s adorable 5-year-old adopted son, Julian. Problem is, Sandler’s Sonny Koufax is a 32-year-old who is highly irresponsible. As he gets to know and love Julian, his change is heart-warming.

• 2. The Longest Yard

  For those who aren’t big fans of sports movies, this 2005 comedy set in a prison might change the way you feel about the genre. Sandler’s self-serving pro football quarterback has to form friendships while recruiting a team together to face the guards, as per the warden’s (James Cromwell) request. With an all-star cast including Burt Reynolds, Chris Rock, Terry Crews, William Fichtner, Nicholas Turturro, WWE’s Bill Goldberg and The Great Khali, Nelly, the Dallas Cowboys’ Michael Irvin, Tracy Morgan, and Joey Diaz, they all have such fun and unique personalities that make this movie great.

• 1. 50 First Dates

  This 2004 film is one of our favorites to rewatch at any time. Co-starring with Drew Barrymore, the two have amazing chemistry in this rom-com. We also love 1998’s The Wedding Singer, which also features the duo. Though it is absolutely hilarious at times, there are some really heart-wrenching moments in 50 First Dates that bring us to tears.

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