Steve Buscemi

Although before becoming an actor Steve Buscemi was tumbling through different professions – he was a dishwasher, a firefighter and a newsboy among other things – his interest in acting came very early. At the age of seven he played Batman while being filmed, and at his Long Island school he was a fixture at theatrical performances. However, he had to wait until he was 28 years old to get an important job on the big screen. The opportunity came from the hands of Bill Sherwood and his film From him Parting Glances(1986). His role was that of a homosexual rock singer who had AIDS, making Buscemi the first actor to play a person with this disease. The representation of him made it clear to us that the marginalized characters, with strange hobbies and gestures, which communicate with the way he moved, were his thing.

But the roles that made him great were those in which Steve played a criminal. In Fargo , one of his many collaborations with the Coen brothers, he showed his ability to create characters as dangerous as they were despicable, always capable of the worst. The movie that really established him as one of Hollywood’s greatest criminals, though, was Reservoir Dogs . In it he embodied Mr. Rosa, an intelligent and selfish man, mysterious and mean, who escapes with the spoils of the coup. About the tendency to play these types of characters, the actor said the following: “My favorite critic describes me as the cinematic equivalent of spam; I don’t know what that means, but it seems like a hint.”

With these films he made a name for himself on the American independent scene, but Steve was not pigeonholed in low-budget cinema and participated in blockbusters of the 90s such as Con Air and Armageddon . In them he rubbed shoulders with actors like Bruce Willis , Ben Affleck , Nicolas Cage or John Malkovich . Since then, he has alternated work in blockbusters with small productions, almost always playing supporting roles but leaving a big mark wherever he goes.

On television, he participated in iconic works such as Miami Vice or the great The Sopranos . In the latter, in addition to acting in sixteen episodes, he directed four, thus demonstrating his perfect mastery of his profession; in fact, he has made some interesting films like Animal Factory or Trees Lounge (One last drink) , modest productions of good billing. His big role came with Scorsese’s production for the small screen, Boardwalk Empire ., a period drama set in Atlantic City in the 1920s, in full prohibition. Here Buscemi plays the main character, Nucky Thompson, a politician who controls the city and who, due to his criminal activities, rubs shoulders with both political leaders and mafia bosses. This work received the Golden Globe for Best Drama Series, like Buscemi himself.

Thanks to his good work and his peculiar physique, he has become one of the great veterans of Hollywood. He has worked in both big-budget and independent films, collaborating with many of today’s leading filmmakers. Buscemi is undoubtedly one of the best scoundrels in cinema; His appearance and his gestures make us feel true contempt for the characters he plays, almost always from the underworld.

Her great career in the industry has made her compatible with social activism. In 2001 he volunteered after the September 11 attacks with his former fire department. In 2003 he led a protest group, along with Ethan Hawke and Jessica Lange , against US actions in the Iraq War. In addition, he is also a tenacious defender of animal rights. He is married to the director and actress Jo Andres, with whom he has a son, Lucian Buscemi. One of Steve’s brothers, Michael Buscemi , is also an actor, having worked in both television and film.