Rob Schneider might be best known for films like Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo or The Hot Chick, but it was Home Alone 2: Lost In New York that gave him his breakout role. Back in the early 1990s, actor and comedian Rob Schneider’s career was on the up and up. After performing his stand-up routines on shows like Late Night With David Letterman and An Evening At The Improv in the late 1980s, Schneider went on to land bit parts on sitcoms including 227 and Coach.

An appearance on HBO’s 13th Annual Young Comedians Special caught the eye of SNL creator Lorne Michaels who hired him as a writer on the long-running variety sketch show in 1989. There, Schneider became known for characters like annoying office worker Richard “The Richmeister” Laymer and unabashed nudist The Sensitive Naked Man. Alongside SNL contemporaries that included Adam Sandler and David Spade, Schneider was nominated for a total of three Emmy Awards during his SNL tenure.

Related: Tim Curry Is Home Alone 2's Secret Weapon

At that point in his career, Rob Schneider had a couple of film roles under his belt with a bit part in Randy Quaid comedy Martians Go Home and a slightly meatier role in sports comedy Necessary Roughness opposite Scott Bakula. A role in a big hit movie, however, had so far evaded him – at least until Home Alone 2: Lost In New York came along in 1992. The sequel to Chris Columbus’ 1990 smash hit, Home Alone 2: Lost In New York saw Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) accidentally end up in New York City where he takes refuge in the Plaza Hotel, and falls afoul of the Wet Bandits (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) once again.

Home Alone 2 Lost In New York Tim Curry Rob Schneider

Rob Schneider’s Home Alone 2: Lost In New York role was Cedric, the tip-hungry bellhop employed at the Plaza Hotel who shows Kevin McCallister to his room and is rewarded with a stick of gum rather than a few crisp dollar bills. While Schneider’s role wasn’t very big, he gave a memorably funny performance nonetheless and even back then he was sure the film would be a beneficial career move. He told Us Magazine in 2017, “It’s the only movie I’ve ever done that I was 100 percent sure it was going to be a smash hit.”

And a big hit it was. While not as highly rated by critics as the original, Home Alone 2: Lost In New York performed impressively at the box office and – like its predecessor – has since become classic Christmas viewing. It certainly helped boost Rob Schneider’s career too. Since Home Alone 2: Lost In New York’s 1992 release, he’s had a steady stream of work that includes roles in a ton of Adam Sandler-produced movies like The Animal, Grown Ups and The Wrong Missy alongside TV parts in the likes of Hot In Cleveland, Inside Amy Schumer and his very own Netflix vehicle Real Rob.

Next: Home Alone: Is Angels With Filthy Souls A Real Gangster Movie?