The actor who famously played the teen caddie attacked by Adam Sandler in the cult classic \u201cHappy Gilmore\u201d is now well into his second successful career \u2014 as a neuroscientist on Long Island.<\/p>\n
The actor who famously played the teen caddie attacked by Adam Sandler in the cult classic \u201cHappy Gilmore\u201d is now well into his second successful career. Courtesy of Jared Van Snellenberg<\/p>\n
Adam Sandler and Jared Van Snellenberg in a scene from Happy Gilmore. Happy Madison Productions<\/p>\n
Dr. Jared Van Snellenberg, current neuroscientist and a former child actor. James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n
But Jared Van Snellenberg, who played the brief but memorable role of getting strangled and tackled<\/a> by Sandler in the 1996 hit flick, told The Post that being a lab director at Stony Brook\u2019s Renaissance School of Medicine doesn\u2019t mean he can escape his comic past.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople come to participate in our research studies, and they\u2019re like, \u2018Yeah, I don\u2019t really care about being paid, can I just meet Dr. Van Snellenberg?\u2019 \u201d the 44-year-old former actor told The Post.<\/p>\n The king of cameos, who now calls Floral Park home, is also conditioned to hearing lines such as, \u201cMister Gilmore, I\u2019m your caddie!\u201d or \u201cWhere were ya on that one, dips\u2013t?\u201d yelled to him by passers-by.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cEven at a recent physical therapy appointment, the receptionist said, \u2018I finally know where I recognize you from!\u2019 \u201d the doc said.<\/p>\n Although his scenes in the great golf comedy immortalized the then-14-year-old kid from British Columbia, Canada, Van Snellenberg said he realized by his 20s that he would have to choose between his two loves \u2014 acting and science.<\/p>\n Van Snellenberg, who began his career on camera after discovering a love for Shakespeare as a young boy, said he will never forget breaking the news to his agent that he was leaving the business to attend Columbia University.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said, \u2018Oh, you\u2019re talking about the real world \u2014 this is all make-believe,’\u201d said the doctor, who specializes in schizophrenia.<\/p>\n Although his scenes in the great golf comedy immortalized the then-14-year-old kid from British Columbia, Canada, Van Snellenberg said he realized by his 20s that he would have to choose between his two loves \u2014 acting and science. Happy Madison Productions<\/p>\n Van Snellenberg said he will never forget breaking the news to his agent that he was leaving the business to attend Columbia University. James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n Van Snellenberg \u2014 known on X as @HappysCaddy<\/a> \u2014 said he is content with his choices that have led to significant medical research.<\/p>\n \u201cBut being on set is something I still miss,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Grass is always greener<\/p>\n Who could blame the dad of three for missing those glory days, as he said Sandler kept the set in stitches with \u201ca prank atmosphere\u201d and fantastic energy.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s pretty similar to his on-screen characters of the era. That set was a riot,\u201d Van Snellenberg recalled, saying that the late Carl Weathers <\/a>was also a delightful bundle of mischief.<\/p>\n Weathers, who portrayed Chubbs Peterson in the movie, even got into a playful, all-day back-and-forth slap fight with Van Snellenberg on the last day of filming, the doctor recalled.<\/p>\n Fortunately, Weathers wasn\u2019t using the wooden hand his character was equipped with.<\/p>\n Van Snellenberg shared that he was also supposed to have another shenanigan with Sandler\u2019s aggressive Gilmore character, who was supposed to throw the screen caddie into a pond after beating him senseless throughout the film\u2019s opening arc.<\/p>\n But Sandler, while carrying the teen, accidentally dropped Van Snellenberg, and the film\u2019s legal team decided to scrap the planned scene for hazard reasons.<\/p>\n Fortunately, Weathers wasn\u2019t using the wooden hand his character was equipped with. Happy Madison Productions<\/p>\n It was also fate that Snellenberg was cast for the role. He had been going through a \u201crebellious\u201d phase and opted to bleach his hair blond against the wishes of his mother. <\/p>\n \u201cShe said it was the stupidest thing I\u2019ve ever done and that nobody would cast me,\u201d he recalled. <\/p>\n But the look was exactly what director Dennis Dugan was going for. It didn\u2019t hurt that Van Snellenberg could easily handle a Sandler tackle in auditions.<\/p>\n It was also fate that Snellenberg was cast for the role. Happy Madison Productions<\/p>\n Dr. Jared Van Snellenberg at a driving range. James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n \u201cThey said, \u2018Don\u2019t cut your hair. Don\u2019t do anything with your hair.\u2019 My mom said, \u2018Thank God you didn\u2019t listen to me,\u2019 \u201d Van Snellenberg said.<\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s gone<\/p>\n Although Van Snellenberg is only photographically shown in the recent sequel \u201cHappy Gilmore 2,\u201d he said he loved the film and was happy to see lookalike professional golfer Will Zalatoris carry on his character\u2019s legacy<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe I can take a week off and go be in \u2018Happy Gilmore 3,\u2019 \u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d love to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n But for now, Van Snellenberg will continue to pour his efforts into how working memory and other neurological facets impact schizophrenia.<\/p>\n When it comes time for leisure, there\u2019s one hobby he surprisingly doesn\u2019t have, though.<\/p>\n \u201cI never got into golf<\/a>,\u201d Van Snellenberg said. \u201cNobody ever brought me to a golf course<\/a> as a kid or young adult. It was just not part of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n Even being on the set didn\u2019t change his mind, for one simple reason.<\/p>\n \u201cI was a 14-year-old kid goofing around with Adam Sandler,\u201d Van Snellenberg said. \u201cThat\u2019s what was salient to me on that set, not that I should go start trying to play golf.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The actor who famously played the teen caddie attacked by Adam Sandler in the cult classic \u201cHappy Gilmore\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[1508,16763,16764,3281,88,2239,686,5871,206,40359,53981,40358],"class_list":{"0":"post-123687","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-actors","9":"tag-adam-sandler","10":"tag-carl-weathers","11":"tag-doctors","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-long-island","14":"tag-medicine","15":"tag-metro","16":"tag-movies","17":"tag-nassau-county","18":"tag-stony-brook-university","19":"tag-suffolk-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}