Reservoir Dogs, Con Air, Fargo
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$35 Million
“I like telling stories about people with problems. I can’t really put it much simpler than that.” Steve Buscemi has certainly played many characters that can be described as people with problems. With more than 162 film and television credits as an actor under his belt, Steve Buscemi does his job well. Steve’s big break came in the 1992 movie, Reservoir Dogs. Since then, he has gone on to film in blockbusters far and wide, including titles like: The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), Pulp Fiction (1994), Fargo (1996), Con Air (1997), Armageddon (1998), Big Daddy (1999), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Grown Ups (2010), Grown Ups 2 (2013), and countless television guest appearances along with roles on television series such as The Sopranos, ER, 30 Rock, and Boardwalk Empire. Buscemi won an Emmy and a Golden Glob Award for his portrayal of Enoch “Nucky” Thompson on the Boardwalk Empire, which ran on HBO for five seasons.
Today he keeps busy working on television and film projects such as Miracle Workers, a series airing on TBS where Buscemi plays the character of God, and upcoming projects with Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow. The 62 year old actor is showing up and coming actors how to enjoy true staying power in Hollywood.
From Humble Beginnings to a Household Name
Steve Buscemi comes from humble beginnings. Born to a restaurant hostess and sanitation worker in Brooklyn New York, he was bitten by the acting bug in high school. Upon graduation, he moved to Manhattan to study with John Strasberg. He took on a few early roles in the 1980s, but his career didn’t take off until much later. Before beginning his rise to stardom in earnest, he worked as a firefighter with Engine Company 55 in Little Italy.
Buscemi remains a staunch advocate for firefighters and firefighter causes today. In addition to returning to NYC in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, when he spent 12 hour days searching with other firefighters for survivors in the rubble, he also speaks at union rallies and was the host of an HBO documentary about FDNY. In 2014, Buscemi was awarded a high honor with his appointment as Honorary Battalion Chief of the FDNY.
In a Business Insider interview, Buscemi credits his rescue efforts after 9/11 for helping him manage his own emotions, saying, “It was a privilege to be able to do it. It was great to connect with the firehouse I used to work with and with some of the guys I worked alongside. And it was enormously helpful for me because while I was working, I didn’t really think about it as much, feel it as much.”
Other jobs Buscemi held before becoming famous include work as a bartender, ice cream truck driver, and a failed attempt to become a stand-up comedian. He was a working man’s working man before he was a Hollywood star.
From the Big City to the Big Screen
These humble, Big Apple beginnings have helped Buscemi remain grounded in Hollywood. That, and the fact that most of his characters die. When asked what his favorite movie death scene was, Buscemi once quipped in a Stephen Colbert interview that the death scene in The Big Lebowski is the one he found most amusing.
After he finally broke into the film industry, with Reservoir Dogs, his star was on the rise. Buscemi went on to play numerous roles on film and television in addition to his roles as screenwriter and producer, the man hasn’t really taken a break from the industry since 1985. In fact, until recently, he was starring in roughly four or five films per year.
One of the great things about Buscemi is that he doesn’t take himself or his career too seriously. He has a healthy sense of humor when looking at and explaining his success and a firm belief that he has been fortunate to have a series of great jobs and projects to work on. This helps each new project remain exciting and new rather than viewing it as a career where the work can become stale and predictable. Buscemi is anything but predictable, even in “type cast” roles he is often called upon to play.
Current projects, like Miracle Workers, where Buscemi plays God, are trending away from old standards where Buscemi was most memorable for his amazing death scenes and incredibly flawed characters. While the role of God in this particular work is incredibly flawed and quite human, it isn’t likely that there will be an epic, or any other sort of, death scene anytime soon.
Whether you’re a die-hard fan of Buscemi’s memorable type-cast characters or love some of his newer works where he gets more screen time and opportunities to branch into other genres, including children’s movies, Buscemi remains one of the more prolific Hollywood actors and a household name.
Perhaps his most accomplished role was that of husband to Jo Andres his wife from 1987 until her death in 2019, something almost unheard of in Hollywood. Together they had one son.
The future is still bright Buscemi who still shows no signs of slowing in his work. There is still a lot of life and many lives to play in this talented actor.
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