Steven Vincent Buscemi (born December 13, 1957) is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated American actor and film director. Buscemi was born in Brooklyn, New York, to John Buscemi, an Italian American sanitation worker and Korean War veteran, and Dorothy, who is Irish American and worked as a hostess at Howard Johnson's.He has three brothers: Jon, Ken and Michael. Buscemi was raised Catholic. He graduated in 1975 from Valley Stream Central High School in Valley Stream, New York, a school which he attended with writer Edward Renehan and actress Patricia Charbonneau. In high school, Buscemi wrestled for the varsity squad and participated in the drama troupe, at that time directed by Mr. Lynne C. Lappin. (Buscemi's 1996 film Trees Lounge, in which he not only starred but served as screenwriter and director, is set in and was largely shot in his childhood village of Valley Stream, New York.) Buscemi briefly attended Nassau Community College before moving to Manhattan to enroll in the Lee Strasberg Institute. In the early 80's Buscemi also served as a firefighter for four years with the FDNY. On March 4th 2005, Buscemi returned to his old high school where he was presented the Distinguished Alumni Award as part of the school's 75th anniversary celebration.The day after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Buscemi showed up at his old firehouse to volunteer for recovery work at Ground Zero. That week, he worked 12 hour shifts digging through the rubble to find bodies, while refusing to do interviews or have his picture taken.
In April 2001, while shooting the film Domestic Disturbance in Wilmington, North Carolina, Buscemi was slashed and badly scarred on his face while intervening in a bar fight between his friend Vince Vaughn, screenwriter Scott Rosenberg and a local man, Timothy Fogerty, who allegedly instigated the brawl.
During his profile on the show Inside the Actors Studio, director John Waters said that he and Buscemi bear an uncanny resemblance to each other, to the point where Waters sent out Christmas cards with a picture of "himself" which was actually Buscemi dressed as him. He also (somewhat jokingly) noted that should a movie ever be made about Waters' life, Buscemi has agreed to star as Waters in the film.
Buscemi has one son, Lucian, with his wife Jo Andres.
