Adam Sandler
The SNL goofball who became a box-office machine — Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer, The Waterboy. In the '90s his man-child comedies and shouty voices made him one of the most bankable comedians alive.
Adam Sandler joined Saturday Night Live as a writer in 1990 and became an on-air featured player in 1991, building a following with absurd characters and original songs like 'The Thanksgiving Song' and 'The Chanukah Song' before he was let go from the show in 1995 amid a cast shake-up.
He turned that departure into a film career almost immediately. Billy Madison (1995) and Happy Gilmore (1996) established his signature man-child persona — sweet-natured slackers prone to sudden shouting rages — and The Wedding Singer (1998, his first pairing with Drew Barrymore), The Waterboy (1998), and Big Daddy (1999) made him one of the decade's most bankable comedy stars.
In 1999 Sandler founded his production company, Happy Madison — named for Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison — which would churn out comedies for decades. He has since stretched into acclaimed dramatic roles, but the rubber-faced, shouting '90s Sandler is the version millennials grew up quoting.
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