Born in Brooklyn, New York on September 9, 1966, Adam Sandler never seriously thought of comedy as a legitimate career choice until he was seventeen. But as soon as he got the taste for it, courtesy of an impromptu performance at a Boston Comedy Club, there was no turning back. He attended New York University where he gained a Degree in Fine Arts, all the while making appearances at various comedy clubs around New York. It was whist at N.Y.U, that he met Tim Herlihy, a friendship that was to prove helpful later on in Sandler’s professional life.

After graduation, Sandler continued to work the clubs and scored minor roles in television, most notably as a friend of Theo in The Cosby Show. But it wasn’t until he scored to prized role of writer/performer on the American comedy institution, Saturday Night Live, that Adam’s ride to A$30 million-a-movie mega-stardom really kicked in to gear.

With weekly exposure on America’s most famous breeding ground for comics (Saturday Night Live has ignited the careers of Dan Ackroyd, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, David Spade and Chris Rock, to name just a few), it wasn’t long before Sandler developed a major following. His obvious comedic talent, accompanied by his boyish charm, won over fans from all over the world and it was inevitable that Sandler would look to make the transition to the big screen.

Small roles in Coneheads, Mixed Nuts and Airheads followed but it was his starring role in, the critically condemned, but box office success, Billy Madison (a film which he co-wrote with university pal, Herlihy) that signaled the start of much bigger things. The movie, about a twenty-something who repeats grades one through twelve in order to inherit his father’s company, was childish and crude but it hit the mark with audiences who realised that you were not meant to take the film too seriously.

Sandler’s follow up film, Happy Gilmore, was again panned by critics but was more popular with audiences. It grossed $38million at the U.S box office, not bad for a movie which cost around $10million to make. Next, he teamed with Damon Wayan’s for the deplorable Bulletproof, a action-comedy which could have derailed Sandler’s chances of future box office success. Sandler had strayed from his comedic path, and he paid the price for it, but anyone predicting the demise of this New York funnyman proved too quick with their assessment.

It was with the release of The Wedding Singer in 1997, that Adam Sandler made the transition from former Saturday Night Live cast member, to a genuine box office talent. Wedding Singer was a far more mature piece of work, it was not as crude as Billy Madison or Happy Gilmore and it struck a chord with cinema-goers, who proceeded to make it one of the biggest movies of the year. The movie, written only by Tim Herlihy, won Sandler a whole new legion of fans. Critics gave the film favourable reviews and for the first time Adam Sandler films were accessible to people over twenty-five, a market that had largely ignored all of Sandler’s previous work.

Sandler returned to his roots with his follow up movie, The Waterboy. Filled with the same "grade school humor" that made Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore successes, The Waterboy was, yet again, dismissed by critics but lapped up by audiences and it’s success at the box office saw the completion of Adam Sandler’s rise into Hollywood’s elite.

1999 saw the release of the impressive, Big Daddy. Made in more of The Wedding Singer mould, Big Daddy let the audience see a more sensitive side of Adam Sandler. The cheap laughs were still there, but the film was slightly more "story-based" than any of his previous films (with the possible exception of The Wedding Singer).

 This year will see the release of Sandler’s next big-screen effort, Little Nicky, which he co-wrote with Herlihy. In the film, Sandler stars as Nicky, who just happens to be the son of the devil (played by Harvey Keitel). When his father asks him to take over the family business, Nicky must venture to earth to find his trouble-making brothers, who left Hell following an argument with their father. Along the way, he manages to fall in love with a woman (played by Rosanna Arquette). Whist the movies’ premise seems a little out of left field, there is little doubt that this film will prove as funny and crowd-pleasing as Sandler’s previous efforts.

Despite what most critics think, it is hard to see Adam Sandler losing his magic touch at the box office any time soon. His movies are funny and enjoyable, even if they are not Oscar-winning material, and there is certainly a market out there for them. Not everyone may appreciate the undoubted talent of this man, but for every one person who does not like Adam Sandler, there are probably another three or four who genuinely love his work.