steve buscemi

actor, director, sex symbol

buscemi trivia:

steve buscemi was born on a friday the 13th -- december 13th, 1957.
steve grew up pronouncing his last name as "boo-SEE-me", despite the italian pronunciation being "boo-SHEM-ee". he answers to both, though.
as a child, steve was hit twice by vehicles (once when he was 4, and again when he wss 8). when he turned 18, he used the $6k settlement money from being hit by a city bus towards his tuition at lee strasberg theatre & film institute in manhattan.^{(playboy, 2011)}
buscemi was a firefighter for engine 55 in little italy, nyc.
in 2001, during a night out with vince vaughn and castmates of domestic disturbance, steve was "stabbed above the eye and in the jaw, throat, and arm" ^{2001 stabbing abc article} while trying to break up a fight between vaughn and a disgruntled drunk. steve still has a deep scar on his face from the incident, which gets covered by makeup when he is onscreen.
in the aftermath of 9/11, steve returned to volunteer with the nyc fire dept, working "12 hour shifts for several days alongside other firefighters, searching for survivors in the rubble from the World Trade Center".^{(people, 2017)}
he held a small grudge against actor paul reiser after he was chosen instead of steve to do stand-up at nyc's the improv. steve got to yell at reiser when he guest-starred on "mad about you", though.^{(npr's "not my job", 2015)}
adam sandler and crew abandoned steve in the rain while he was wearing a full-body cast, during the shooting of grown ups.^{(fly on the wall, 2024)} despite this, steve still collaborates with sandler.
in april of 2015, steve was recognized as an "outstanding american" and inducted into the national wrestling hall of fame, having wrestled in high school.^{(li herald, 2015)}
he makes a brief cameo in the music video for joe strummer's cover of bob marley's "redemption song" (you can watch it here) as well as an appearance as a waiter in the music video for the beastie boys' "make some noise" (here)
in 2021, he was given the key to the city by the mayor of nyc.
in 2024, steve was the victim of a random assault - a stranger punched him in the face, unprovoked, before fleeing. the man was eventually arrested, and steve went to the hospital with a swollen eye and face.

steve with an old wrestling teammate, after being inducted into the wrestling hall of fame. (sorry to the other wrestling guy - this page isn't about you.)

quotes:

I’ve had dentists who have wanted to help me out, but I say, 'You know, I won’t work again if you fix my teeth.'^{(hollywood reporter roundtable, 2011)}

Different actors do sex scenes differently. I’m very modest. I’ve always got something on, and I don’t get aroused. I’m still shy on that subject. My motivation for going into the movies was definitely not the sex scenes...^{(playboy, 2011)}

I'm not against capitalism, but it's another thing to blame the victim. A lot of poor people have made something of themselves but nobody does it on their own. Everybody needs help. There's nothing wrong with having government help, and I think if your goal is only to make money, that's not a worthy goal in and of itself...The idea that the money would trickle down to the poor is condescending, and doesn't work.^{(guardian, 2013)}

I don't see any of [the characters i've played] as losers. I refuse to call them losers. I don't see why people have to be defined as winners or as losers. To me, they are people who have problems and struggle. They are trying to live their life and a lot of these guys have a lot of heart, which I really appreciate...they are also people who are not interested in being in the race. They are not competing, they are not winning or losing. It's living, surviving.^{(guardian, 2007)}

I was once in a play, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, where I sang the only song in the show. It was opening night and the music didn’t come up right away and I was terrified that I would have to sing without any music. I actually felt my knees shaking. It’s the only time I ever felt that happen where they were actually knocking against each other.^{(hollywood reporter roundtable, 2011)}

Directing gave me a lot of anxiety. It still does. There’s so much you’re responsible for, it can get overwhelming. The fun part is working with the crew and the actors. When I’m directing, I feel as if I get to play every scene with all the actors. But it doesn’t come easy. My first day directing on Sopranos was a scene with James Gandolfini, and I knew him only from watching the show. Jimmy’s such a great actor—I felt really intimidated. I was going over to tell him something and felt like I was talking to Tony Soprano so I’d better be careful how I said it. After I got over that it went fine.^{(playboy, 2011)}

I remember my son once asked me, 'Did you ever, like, kiss in high school?' And I told him this long drawn-out story of how shy I was, how I finally got a girlfriend but she broke up with me because I was too shy to try to kiss her, and then I had another girlfriend but still couldn’t figure out kissing. The technique was always a big obstacle in my head, like, How do you kiss? Where does your chin go? Forget about anything beyond kissing—first base was a total mystery to me...So I’m telling my son this long story, and he listens patiently until he finally realizes where I’m going with it, and he says, 'Dad, no—did you like Kiss in high school? Kiss, the band!' And I was, 'Oh yeah, Kiss…they were good.'^{(playboy, 2011)}

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