1987–1994: Early television and film roles In 1987, Sandler played
Theo Huxtable's friend Smitty on
The Cosby Show and the Stud Boy or Trivia Delinquent on the
MTV game show Remote Control. After his film debut in
Going Overboard in 1989, Sandler performed in comedy clubs, having first taken the stage at his brother's urging when he was 17. He was discovered by comedian
Dennis Miller, who caught Sandler's act in
Los Angeles and 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. He made a name for himself by performing amusing original songs on the show, including "
The Thanksgiving Song" and "
The Chanukah Song". Sandler told
Conan O'Brien on
The Tonight Show that
NBC fired him and
Chris Farley from the show in 1995. Sandler used his firing as part of his monologue when he
returned in 2019 to host the show. In 1993, Adam Sandler appeared in the film
Coneheads with fellow SNL performers Farley,
David Spade,
Dan Aykroyd,
Phil Hartman, and
Jane Curtin. In 1994, he co-starred in
Airheads with
Brendan Fraser and
Steve Buscemi.
1995–2014: Commercial success Sandler starred in
Billy Madison (1995) playing a grown man repeating grades 1–12 to earn back his father's respect and the right to inherit his father's multimillion-dollar hotel empire. The film was successful at the box office despite negative reviews. He followed this film with
Bulletproof (1996), and the financially successful comedies
Happy Gilmore (1996) and
The Wedding Singer (1998), his first collaboration with
Drew Barrymore. He was initially cast in the bachelor party-themed comedy/thriller
Very Bad Things (1998) but had to back out due to his involvement in
The Waterboy (1998), one of his first big hits. Sandler continued making successful comedy films including
Big Daddy (1999),
Mr. Deeds (2002),
Anger Management (2003),
50 First Dates (2004, his second collaboration with
Drew Barrymore),
The Longest Yard (2005), and
Click (2006). He also formed his film production company,
Happy Madison Productions, in 1999, first producing fellow
SNL alumnus
Rob Schneider's film
Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo. The company has produced most of Sandler's subsequent films to date, and is on the Sony/
Columbia Pictures lot in
Culver City, California. Most of its films have received negative reviews from critics, with three considered among the
worst ever made yet most have performed well at the box office. Although his earlier commercially successful films did not receive favorable critical attention, Sandler started to receive more positive reviews beginning with his more dramatic role in
Punch-Drunk Love in 2002.
Punch-Drunk Love writer and director,
Paul Thomas Anderson, had an "obsession-level" love for Sandler's previous movies and wrote the film with him in mind. Sandler was intimidated to work with Anderson upon viewing his previous film
Magnolia (1999), but these fears were alleviated upon receiving the script from Anderson.
Roger Ebert's review of
Punch-Drunk Love concluded that Sandler had been wasted in earlier films with poorly written scripts and characters with no development. Ebert noted that Sandler's character still maintained the "childlike, love-starved" persona from his previous films, but was shown in a new light as the "key to all Adam Sandler films". Sandler was nominated for a
Golden Globe Award for
Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance. In 2009, Sandler starred in Apatow's third directorial feature,
Funny People, a
comedy drama about a famous comedian (Sandler) with a
terminal illness. The film was released on July 31, 2009. After its release,
Funny People and
Punch-Drunk Love were cited in the June 2010 announcement that Sandler was one of 135 people (including 20 actors) invited to join the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. in 2009 In 2010, Sandler appeared in
Grown Ups, alongside Kevin James,
Chris Rock,
Rob Schneider, David Spade,
Salma Hayek,
Maria Bello, and
Maya Rudolph. Sandler and
Dickie Roberts scribe Fred Wolf wrote the script and Dennis Dugan directed. Sandler's later comedy films, including
Grown Ups and
Grown Ups 2, received largely negative reviews. Reviewing the latter, critic Mark Olsen of the
Los Angeles Times remarked that Sandler had become the antithesis of
Judd Apatow; he was instead "the white
Tyler Perry: smart enough to know better, savvy enough to do it anyway, lazy enough not to care." In 2011, Sandler starred with
Jennifer Aniston in the romantic comedy film
Just Go with It. He also voiced a capuchin monkey in Kevin James's
Zookeeper, released on July 8, 2011. In 2012, he starred in ''
That's My Boy, as a man who fathered a son (Andy Samberg) with his teacher (Eva Amurri) in high school. In 2013, he guest starred in the Disney Channel Original Series Jessie as himself in the episode "Punched Dumped Love". He and Jessie
star Cameron Boyce had worked together in Grown Ups
and Grown Ups 2''; Sandler's 2020 film
Hubie Halloween was dedicated to Boyce's memory. Sandler next reunited with
Drew Barrymore for a third time in the
Warner Bros. romantic comedy
Blended, which was filmed in South Africa and released on May 23, 2014.
2014–present: Final theatrical films and switch to Netflix In October 2014, Netflix announced a four-movie deal with Sandler and Happy Madison Productions. Also that year, Sandler co-starred in the drama film
Men, Women & Children, directed by
Jason Reitman. He was considered for the voice of Rocket Raccoon in Marvel's
Guardians of the Galaxy but
Bradley Cooper was cast instead. In 2015, Sandler released his last theatrical film,
Pixels, based on French director Patrick Jean's
2010 short film of the same name, before transitioning into a distribution deal with
Netflix. Sandler's first original film for Netflix was the Western comedy film
The Ridiculous 6. Despite being universally panned by critics, on January 6, 2016, it was announced by Netflix that the film had been viewed more times in 30 days than any other movie in Netflix history. Sandler also starred in another Netflix film in 2016, titled
The Do-Over. Sandler starred in the 2017 Netflix film
Sandy Wexler, in which he plays a talent manager who falls in love with one of his clients. He returned to dramatic territory in 2017 with
Noah Baumbach's family drama
The Meyerowitz Stories. In the film, Sandler plays Danny Meyerowitz, who is unemployed and separated from his wife, and who is experiencing dysfunctional relationships with his brother (
Ben Stiller), his sister (
Elizabeth Marvel), and his father (
Dustin Hoffman). The film premiered in competition for the
Palme d'Or at the
2017 Cannes Film Festival where his performance received favorable notices from critics. , for the premiere of
Men, Women & Children In 2018, Sandler starred in the Netflix film
The Week Of alongside
Chris Rock. He also starred in a Netflix stand-up special
Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh, which was part of his company's Netflix deal and marked his first stand-up film in over two decades. The special was directed by longtime collaborator
Steven Brill, while portions of the special were filmed by Paul Thomas Anderson, which marked Sandler's first project with Anderson since
Punch-Drunk Love sixteen years prior. On May 4, 2019, Sandler made his first appearance as host of
Saturday Night Live, ending the episode with a tribute to his friend and fellow former cast member
Chris Farley. Sandler received a
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series nomination for his hosting stint. In June 2019, he reunited with
Jennifer Aniston in the Netflix film
Murder Mystery, which broke the record for the biggest opening weekend in the company's history, and spawned a sequel,
Murder Mystery 2, in 2023. In December 2019, Sandler starred in the crime thriller
Uncut Gems, directed by the
Safdie brothers. The movie and Sandler's acting received critical acclaim and many end-of-year awards from critics, who noted this role as a career best for Sandler, for which he earned the
Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead. In January 2020,
Netflix announced a new four-movie deal with Happy Madison Productions worth up to $275 million. Sandler starred in and wrote the 2020 Netflix film
Hubie Halloween. In addition he voiced Leo the lizard in Netflix's animated coming-of-age musical
Leo (2023). Sandler produced and starred in the 2022 sports drama film
Hustle, which received critical acclaim. His performance in the film was repeatedly singled out for praise and he received a nomination for a
Screen Actors Guild Award. On March 19, 2023, Sandler was awarded the
Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Many of Sandler's friends and fellow performers, including
Ben Stiller,
Conan O'Brien,
Dana Carvey, and
Judd Apatow, spoke at the event. In 2024, Sandler starred in his second Netflix stand-up comedy special,
Adam Sandler: Love You, which was directed by
Josh Safdie. He also starred in the science fiction drama film
Spaceman, an adaptation of the science fiction novel
Spaceman of Bohemia (2017), directed by
Johan Renck. Also in 2024, Sandler was named the People's Choice Icon at the
49th People's Choice Awards. In March 2024, Forbes announced that Sandler was the best-paid actor in Hollywood in 2023, earning $73 million. In 2025, Sandler reprised his role as the titular character in
Happy Gilmore 2, released nearly 30 years following the original film in 1996, and reportedly accruing over 90 million viewers via Netflix following its release. He also appeared alongside
George Clooney in the drama
Jay Kelly, for which both Clooney and Sandler received praise, particularly Sandler on expanding his dramatic range in the film, and nominations at the
83rd Golden Globe Awards. On December 3, 2025, it was announced that Sandler would join Season 23 of
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors alongside
Ariana Grande. ==Public image==