Dennis Dugan

Acting

Dennis Dugan

Born 1946-09-05 · Wheaton, Illinois, USA

Dennis Dugan (born September 5, 1946) is an American director, comedian, and actor. He started his acting career after appearing in the 1973 made-for-TV movie” The Girl Most Likely to...” He is well known for his frequent collaborations with comedic actor Adam Sandler, directing several films including “Happy Gilmore” and “Grown Ups.” Dennis has also made a career as a television and film director, and appears in cameo parts in many of his films. Dugan has directed episodes of such television series as Moonlighting (was also a guest star in some episodes), Ally McBeal, and NYPD Blue.  Dugan married actress Joyce Van Patten in 1973 and divorced her fourteen years later. Now he is married to Sharon O'Connor and has a son named Kelly Dugan.

Acting credits

Grown Ups poster
6.4

After their high school basketball coach passes away, five good friends and former teammates reunite for a Fourth of July holiday weekend.

Grown Ups

2010

Grown Ups 2 poster
6.2

Lenny has relocated his family back to the small town where he and his friends grew up. This time around, the grown ups are the ones learning lessons from their kids on a day notoriously full of surprises—the last day of school.

Grown Ups 2

2013

You Don't Mess with the Zohan poster
5.7

An Israeli counterterrorism soldier with a secretly fabulous ambition to become a Manhattan hairstylist. Zohan's desire runs so deep that he'll do anything -- including faking his own death and going head-to-head with an Arab cab driver -- to make his dreams come true.

You Don't Mess with the Zohan

2008

Happy Gilmore poster
6.7

Failed hockey player-turned-golf whiz Happy Gilmore — whose unconventional approach and antics on the green courts the ire of rival Shooter McGavin — is determined to win a PGA tournament so he can save his granny's house with the prize money. Meanwhile, an attractive tour publicist tries to soften Happy's image.

Happy Gilmore

1996

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry poster
6.1

Firefighters Chuck Ford and Larry Valentine are guy's guys, loyal to the core—which is why when widower Larry asks Chuck to pose as his lover so that he can get domestic partner benefits for his kids, his buddy agrees. However, things get dicey when a bureaucrat comes calling, and the boys are forced to present a picture of domestic bliss.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry

2007

Happy Gilmore 2 poster
6.5

Happy Gilmore isn't done with golf — not by a long shot. Since his retirement after his first Tour Championship win, Gilmore returns to finance his daughter's ballet classes.

Happy Gilmore 2

2025

Big Daddy poster
6.5

A lazy law school grad adopts a kid to impress his girlfriend, but everything doesn't go as planned. Now he's forced to grow up while navigating the challenges of fatherhood.

Big Daddy

1999

That's My Boy poster
5.8

While in his teens, Donny fathered a son, Todd, and raised him as a single parent up until Todd's 18th birthday. Now, after not seeing each other for years, Todd's world comes crashing down when Donny resurfaces just before Todd's wedding.

That's My Boy

2012

The Howling poster
6.6

After a bizarre and near fatal encounter with a serial killer, a newswoman is sent to a rehabilitation center whose inhabitants may not be what they seem.

The Howling

1981

Jack and Jill poster
4.4

Jack Sadelstein, a successful advertising executive in Los Angeles with a beautiful wife and kids, dreads one event each year: the Thanksgiving visit of his twin sister Jill. Jill's neediness and passive-aggressiveness is maddening to Jack, turning his normally tranquil life upside down.

Jack and Jill

2011

Knox Goes Away poster
7.0

A contract killer, after being diagnosed with a fast-moving form of dementia, is presented with the opportunity to redeem himself by saving the life of his estranged adult son. But to do so, he must race against the police closing in on him as well as the ticking clock of his own rapidly deteriorating mind.

Knox Goes Away

2024

Can't Buy Me Love poster
6.9

Nerdy high schooler Ronald Miller rescues cheerleader Cindy Mancini from parental punishment after she accidentally destroys her mother's designer clothes. Ronald agrees to pay for the $1,000 outfit on one condition: that she will act as though they're a couple for an entire month. As the days pass, however, Cindy grows fond of Ronald, making him popular. But when Ronald's former best friend gets left behind, he realizes that social success isn't everything.

Can't Buy Me Love

1987

Problem Child poster
6.2

Ben Healy and his social climbing wife Flo adopt fun-loving seven year old Junior. But they soon discover he's a little monster as he turns a camping trip, a birthday party and even a baseball game into comic nightmares.

Problem Child

1990

Parenthood poster
6.7

The story of the Buckman family and friends, attempting to bring up their children. They suffer/enjoy all the events that occur: estranged relatives, the 'black sheep' of the family, the eccentrics, the skeletons in the closet, and the rebellious teenagers.

Parenthood

1989

Saving Silverman poster
5.8

A pair of buddies conspire to save their best friend from marrying the wrong woman, a cold-hearted beauty who snatches him from them and breaks up their Neil Diamond cover band.

Saving Silverman

2001

The Benchwarmers poster
5.9

A trio of guys try and make up for missed opportunities in childhood by forming a three-player baseball team to compete against standard little league squads.

The Benchwarmers

2006

Night Moves poster
6.7

Private detective and former football player Harry Moseby gets hired on to what seems a standard missing person case - a former Hollywood actress wants Moseby to find and return her daughter. Harry travels to Florida to find her, but he begins to see a connection between the runaway girl, the world of Hollywood stuntmen, and a suspicious mechanic when an unsolved murder comes to light.

Night Moves

1975

Grown Ups 3 poster
NR

The group & their respective partners travel to Europe to spread their close friend's ashes & prove that they can still be fun — even in their 60s.

Grown Ups 3

She's Having a Baby poster
5.9

Jake and Kristy Briggs are newlyweds. Being young, they are perhaps a bit unprepared for the full reality of marriage and all that it (and their parents) expect from them. Do they want babies? Their parents certainly want them to. Is married life all that there is? Things certainly aren't helped by Jake's friend Davis, who always seems to turn up just in time to put a spanner in the works.

She's Having a Baby

1988

Love, Weddings & Other Disasters poster
6.0

A fussy celebrity caterer, a blind woman, a tour-bus guide and an inexperienced wedding planner search for love.

Love, Weddings & Other Disasters

2020

The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking poster
5.9

After her father's ship is carried off by a sudden storm, the spunky Pippi Longstocking is stranded with her horse, Alfonso,and her pet monkey, Mr. Neilson, and takes up residence in the old family home, which is thought by neighborhood children to be haunted. Soon, two children, Tommy and his sister Anika, venture into the house only to meet up with Pippi. The three soon become friends and get into various adventures together, including cleaning the floor with scrubbing shoes, dodging the "splunks", going down a waterfall in barrels, and helping Pippi with the problem of having to go to an orphanage. Older children will probably get the most out of this movie.

The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking

1988

Unidentified Flying Oddball poster
5.6

A NASA spacecraft proves Einstein right when, traveling faster than light, it ends up near King Arthur's Camelot. On board are big-hearted Tom Trimble and Hermes, the look-alike robot he built. Tom immediately makes friends with pretty Alisande while becoming enemies with the evil knight Sir Mordred. It seems Mordred has joined up with the Sorcerer Merlin and they are both up to no good. It is now up to Tom to try and use 20th century technology to foil their plans.

Unidentified Flying Oddball

1979

Smile poster
6.0

It's time again for California's "Young American Miss" beauty pageant, the biggest event of the year for Big Bob Freelander and Brenda DiCarlo, who give their all to put on a successful pageant. But Brenda is having marital difficulties and Bob's son is up to some mischief. Could this year's pageant be in jeopardy?

Smile

1975

The Day of the Locust poster
6.4

Hollywood, 1930s. Tod Hackett, a young painter who tries to make his way as an art director in the lurid world of film industry, gets infatuated with his neighbor Faye Greener, an aspiring actress who prefers the life that Homer Simpson, a lone accountant, can offer her.

The Day of the Locust

1975

Behind the camera

Grown Ups poster
6.4

After their high school basketball coach passes away, five good friends and former teammates reunite for a Fourth of July holiday weekend.

Grown Ups

2010

Grown Ups 2 poster
6.2

Lenny has relocated his family back to the small town where he and his friends grew up. This time around, the grown ups are the ones learning lessons from their kids on a day notoriously full of surprises—the last day of school.

Grown Ups 2

2013

Just Go with It poster
6.7

While romancing Palmer, a much younger schoolteacher, plastic surgeon Danny Maccabee enlists his loyal assistant Katherine to pretend to be his soon to be ex-wife, in order to cover up a careless lie. When more lies backfire, Katherine's kids become involved, and everyone heads off for a weekend in Hawaii that will change all their lives.

Just Go with It

2011

You Don't Mess with the Zohan poster
5.7

An Israeli counterterrorism soldier with a secretly fabulous ambition to become a Manhattan hairstylist. Zohan's desire runs so deep that he'll do anything -- including faking his own death and going head-to-head with an Arab cab driver -- to make his dreams come true.

You Don't Mess with the Zohan

2008

Happy Gilmore poster
6.7

Failed hockey player-turned-golf whiz Happy Gilmore — whose unconventional approach and antics on the green courts the ire of rival Shooter McGavin — is determined to win a PGA tournament so he can save his granny's house with the prize money. Meanwhile, an attractive tour publicist tries to soften Happy's image.

Happy Gilmore

1996

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry poster
6.1

Firefighters Chuck Ford and Larry Valentine are guy's guys, loyal to the core—which is why when widower Larry asks Chuck to pose as his lover so that he can get domestic partner benefits for his kids, his buddy agrees. However, things get dicey when a bureaucrat comes calling, and the boys are forced to present a picture of domestic bliss.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry

2007

Big Daddy poster
6.5

A lazy law school grad adopts a kid to impress his girlfriend, but everything doesn't go as planned. Now he's forced to grow up while navigating the challenges of fatherhood.

Big Daddy

1999

Jack and Jill poster
4.4

Jack Sadelstein, a successful advertising executive in Los Angeles with a beautiful wife and kids, dreads one event each year: the Thanksgiving visit of his twin sister Jill. Jill's neediness and passive-aggressiveness is maddening to Jack, turning his normally tranquil life upside down.

Jack and Jill

2011

National Security poster
6.0

Earl Montgomery, a bombastic police academy reject, and Hank Rafferty, a disgraced, mild-mannered cop, can't seem to escape each other. They met on opposite sides of the law during a routine traffic stop that escalated out of control; now as lowly security guards they're thrown together to bust a smuggling operation.

National Security

2003

Beverly Hills Ninja poster
5.7

Haru, an orphaned American who washes ashore in Japan and is mistaken for the great White Ninja of legend. Raised among the finest Ninjas, Haru grows strong and big - very big. With the grace of all Three Stooges rolled into one body, Haru is an embarrassment to his clan. But when a beautiful blonde pleads for his help, Haru is given one dangerous, disastrously funny chance to prove himself.

Beverly Hills Ninja

1997

Problem Child poster
6.2

Ben Healy and his social climbing wife Flo adopt fun-loving seven year old Junior. But they soon discover he's a little monster as he turns a camping trip, a birthday party and even a baseball game into comic nightmares.

Problem Child

1990

Saving Silverman poster
5.8

A pair of buddies conspire to save their best friend from marrying the wrong woman, a cold-hearted beauty who snatches him from them and breaks up their Neil Diamond cover band.

Saving Silverman

2001

The Benchwarmers poster
5.9

A trio of guys try and make up for missed opportunities in childhood by forming a three-player baseball team to compete against standard little league squads.

The Benchwarmers

2006

Brain Donors poster
6.1

Three manic idiots—a lawyer, a cab driver and a handyman—team up to run a ballet company to fulfil the will of a millionaire. Stooge-like antics result as the trio try to outwit the rich widow and her scheming big-shot lawyer, who also wants to run the ballet.

Brain Donors

1992

Love, Weddings & Other Disasters poster
6.0

A fussy celebrity caterer, a blind woman, a tour-bus guide and an inexperienced wedding planner search for love.

Love, Weddings & Other Disasters

2020

Love, Weddings & Other Disasters poster
6.0

A fussy celebrity caterer, a blind woman, a tour-bus guide and an inexperienced wedding planner search for love.

Love, Weddings & Other Disasters

2020

The Shaggy Dog poster
5.0

Preteen Moochie Daniels just wants a dog, but his dad, Daniel, is allergic to canines, like Bundles, the shabby sheep dog of neighbor Charlie Mulvihill who secretly trained his pet to help him steal jewels. Mooch's big brother Wilbert 'Wilby' is smart, shy and a promising inventor, but hopelessly clumsy when it comes to girls, and is jealous of his slick mate Trey who has no problems. Desperate Wilby resorts to a spell from the ring of Lucrezia Borgia (he accidentally got from dad's museum of curiosities), which magically turns him into Bundles and back at uncontrollable times. This is how he also knows that the diamond on loan in his father's museum is Charlie's next target.

The Shaggy Dog

1994

Karroll's Christmas poster
4.8

Allen Karroll hates Christmas ever since his ex-girlfriend humiliated him in front of thousands of people one Christmas. As a man who writes greeting cards for a living, this proves to be a hinderance. He also hates the man who lives across the street, Zeb Rosecog, who seems to take delight in tormenting him, who also happens to be the former CEO of Karroll's greeting card company. One day, Karroll is visited by the ghost Jacob Marley (related to Bob Marley), as well as the ghost of Christmas present, past and future (in that order) who all happen to have come to the wrong address, and had actually meant to visit Rosecog. During this experience, Karroll learns a lot about himself as well as Rosecog, and discovers that he and Rosecog have a lot in common, and decides to help Rosecog to see the light, and rediscover the joy of Christmas.

Karroll's Christmas

2004