Adam Sandler is one of those comedians you either love or hate; in fact his humour could be described as an acquired taste. Sandler, born in Brooklyn in 1966, was always playing the clown, and decided early that his career lay in making people laugh. His first appearance was at 17, when he spontaneously got up on stage in a Boston club he was visiting. While he was studying a Fine Arts degree at New York University, he honed his talent by performing at clubs and university gigs and in his freshman year he bagged a part in the popular sitcom "The Cosby Show".
It was while he was balancing schoolwork and his stand-up that he got his biggest break: while performing at a famous LA club, he was spotted by "Saturday Night Live" alumni Dennis Miller. Miller immediately hinted to the show's producer, that he had found a kid with considerable talent. In 1990 Sandler was taken on as a writer, with an occasional on-screen spot, a year later he was one of the most regular characters on the show.
Supporting roles in comedies such as "Coneheads" and "Airheads" followed his film debut, "Shakes the Clown" in 1991. These somewhat moronic offerings aside, he is probably best know for starring opposite Drew Barrymore in "The Wedding Singer" in 1998.
His film release "Little Nicky" seems to be a return to the more puerile humour of previous years, as he plays a bashful Antichrist. Critics have referred to him with words such as 'genius', but also 'talentless' and 'juvenile'. Whichever description you agree with, he is a comic who certainly enjoys himself.
