The Brooklyn-born, 56-year-old has “entertained audiences for three decades through his movies, his music and his time as a viewer favorite on ‘SNL,'” Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter said in a statement.
The popular sketch show “SNL” (“Saturday night live”) was Sandler’s home between 1990-95 and his springboard into a Hollywood career, where in the latter half of the 1990s he broke through with successful films such as “Happy Gilmore”, ” The wedding singer” and “Waterboy”.
In recent years, Sandler has also made more serious, at the same time acclaimed, acting efforts in films such as “Uncut gems” and “Hustle”.
The award will be presented on March 26 with a host of famous faces on hand to pay tribute to Sandler, including Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Steve Buscemi and Conan O’Brien.
Previous award winners include David Letterman, Dave Chappelle, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bill Murray and Eddie Murphy.
