Adam Sandler

Name: Adam Sandler
Born: 9 September 1966 (Age: 44)
Where: Brooklyn, New York USA
Height: 5' 9"
Awards: 3 Emmy Nominations.]

Back in the early Nineties, it was generally held that Saturday Night Live was finished. Having re-invigorated American comedy and spawned such cinematic stars as John and Jim Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, yeddie murph, Chevy Chase and bill murray, it was reckoned that the show had run out of steam, that it had become childish, crude and desperately un-funny. None of the current crop would cut it in the movies. Well, maybe Dana Carvey...

Amazing, then, that  mike myers should become one of the biggest film stars in the world. And more amazing still that Myers should be eclipsed by the crudest and most childish SNL comedian of them all. Come 2002, Adam Sandler had enjoyed a string of massive hits, breaking box-office records and shattering the magical $100 million mark several times. And, where Myers was pulling them in as Austin Powers, Sandler was doing it as Adam Sandler. His name had become a guarantee and, as such, he was being paid more even than the likes ofharrison ford.

He was born Adam Richard Sandler on the 9th of September, 1966, in Brooklyn, New York, the third of four kids. His dad, Stanley, was an engineer, while his mother, Judy, was a homemaker, looking after Scott (now a lawyer), Elizabeth (a dentist), Adam and Valerie (a restauranteur). While Adam was still young, they moved north, to Manchester, New Hampshire.

Sandler did not excel as a student. His interests lay elsewhere. He loved wrestling, and basketball - he played on Manchester Central High School's junior varsity team. Even now he keeps a hoop nearby whenever he's on-set. And there was music. At age 11, he got up to sing at Elizabeth's wedding, performing Ringo Starr's You're Sixteen to huge applause. Overly enthused, he then broke into Yesterday, and was roundly booed for trying to be the centre of attention. This was always the way with Sandler. You love him or you hate him. Or you love him, THEN you hate him. Then you love him again. Like

The music would continue into his teens, when he formed a covers band. Rock was their thing. Sandler would later base his character in Airheads on one of his early drummers - into the noise and the camaraderie, but zoned-out and unable to remember any of the songs.

And, of course, there was another interest - comedy. Mel Brooks was an early influence. His 2000 Year Old Man used to crack Stanley up, something that Adam, ever the class clown, was always trying to do. Then, at age 12, there was John Belushi and Animal House. Two years later, there was Murray, Rodney Dangerfield and Caddyshack, a film Sandler claims to have seen 300 times. Consider Murray's character, the groundsman of the golf club, perpetually hunting the gophers destroying the greens.

 jim carrey, he SERIOUSLY divides opinion.