Steve Buscemi: Biography
Steve Buscemi was born on the cold, wintery day of December 13, 1957 in Brooklyn NYC. Steve began to develope an interest in theater his senior year of high school. While working as an ice-cream man and being a fireman on the NYC fire dept. for four years, he tried the stand-up comedy scenes in local clubs. Eventually Steve gave it up, and moved to Manhattan. While studying at the Lee Strasburg Institute, Steve performed many miscellanous theatrical pieces in the area of downtown NYC. He also attended Nassau Community College, but only stayed for one semster. Finally Steve's talents caught the eye of the late Bill Sherwood. Steve got his big break when Sherwood cast him as a leading role in the powerfull and memorable movie, "Parting Glances" in 1986. Steve's career was off like a rocket, although he remains very underrated for his brilliance as an actor, producer, screenwriter and director.
Steve Buscemi: Career
His talents were eventually noticed by filmmaker Bill Sherwood, who was casting his film Parting Glances. The 1986 drama was one of the first feature films to be made about AIDS (Sherwood himself died from AIDS in 1990), and it starred Buscemi as Nick, a sardonic rock singer suffering from the disease. The film, which was a critical success on the independent circuit, essentially began Buscemi's career as a respected independent actor.
Buscemi's resume was given a further boost that same year by his recurring role as a serial killer on the popular TV drama L.A. Law; he subsequently began finding steady work in such films as New York Stories and Mystery Train (both 1989). In 1990, he had another career breakthrough with his role in Miller's Crossing, which began his longtime collaboration with the Coen brothers. The Coens went on to cast Buscemi in nearly all of their films, featuring him to particularly memorable effect in Barton Fink (1991), in which he played a bell boy; Fargo (1996), which featured him as an ill-fated kidnapper; and The Big Lebowski (1998), which saw him portray a laid-back ex-surfer.
Although Buscemi has done his best work outside of the mainstream, turning in other sterling performances in Alexandre Rockwell's In the Soup (1992) and Tom Di Cillo's Living in Oblivion (1995), he has occasionally appeared in such Hollywood megaplex fare as Con Air (1997), Armageddon (1998), Big Daddy (1999), and 28 Days (2000), the last of which cast him against type as Sandra Bullock's rehab counselor. Back in indieville, Buscemi would next utilize his homely persona in a more sympathetic manner as a soulful loner with a penchant for collecting old records in director Terry Zwigoff's (Crumb) Ghost World. Despite all indicators pointing to mainstream prolifieration in the new millennium, Buscemi continued to display his dedication to independent film projects with roles in such efforts as Alaxandre Rockwell's 13 Moons and Peter Mattei's Love in the Time of Money (both 2002). Of course there are exceptions to every rule, and Buscemi's memorable appearances in such big budget efforts as Mr Deeds and both Spy Kids 2 and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over served to remind audiences that Buscemi was still indeed at the top of his game, perhaps now more than ever.
In 1996, Buscemi made his screenwriting and directorial debut with Trees Lounge, a well-received comedy drama in which he played a down-on-his-luck auto mechanic shuffling through life on Long Island. He followed up his directorial debut in 2000 with Animal Factory, a subdued prison drama starring Edward Furlong as a young inmate who finds protection from his fellow prisoners in the form of an older convict (Willem Dafoe). Moving to the small screen, Buscemi would next helm an episode of the acclaimed HBO mob drama The Sopranos. Called Pine Barrens, the episode instantly became a fan-favorite.
In 2004, Buscemi moved out from behind the camera to join the cast of The Sopranos, costarring as Tony Blundetto, a recently paroled mafioso struggling to stay straight in the face of temptation to revert back to his old ways
Steve Buscemi: Films
Monster House (2006), Charlotte's Web (2006), Romance and Cigarettes (2005), The Island (2005), Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take 2 1/2 (2005), Rockets Redglare! (2004), Coffee and Cigarettes (2004), 13 Moons (2003), Big Fish (2003), Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003), Love in the Time of Money (2002), The Grey Zone (2002), Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams (2002), Mr. Deeds (2002), The Laramie Project (2002), Double Whammy (2001), Domestic Disturbance (2001), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Ghost World (2001), Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within (2001), Animal Factory (2000), 28 Days (2000), Divine Trash (2000), Big Daddy (1999), The Impostors (1998), Armageddon (1998), The Big Lebowski (1998), The Real Blonde (1998), The Wedding Singer (1998), Con Air (1997), Trees Lounge (1996), Somebody to Love (1996), Kansas City (1996)
John Carpenter's Escape From L.A. (1996), The Search For One-Eye Jimmy (1996), Fargo (1996), Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995), Desperado (1995), Living in Oblivion (1995), Floundering (1994), Pulp Fiction (1994), Airheads (1994), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), Ed and His Dead Mother (1993), Twenty Bucks (1993), Rising Sun (1993), Trusting Beatrice (1993), In the Soup (1992), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Zandalee (1991), Billy Bathgate (1991), Barton Fink (1991), The Grifters (1990), King of New York (1990), Miller's Crossing (1990), No Picnic (1990), Mystery Train (1989), Slaves of New York (1989), Heart of Midnight (1989), Vibes (1988), Call Me (1988), Kiss Daddy Good Night (1988), Heart (1987), Parting Glances (1986)
