Buscemi, Steve is an American actor, director, and writer.  He is a prolific member of the American Independent film movement, often appearing in neurotic and paranoid supporting roles, and is a frequent collaborator of directors such as the Coen brothers and Quentin Tarantino.

Buscemi was born to a Catholic family in Brooklyn, New York on December 15, 1957.  He has three brothers: Jon, Ken, and Michael.  He attended Valley Stream High School in Valley Stream, New York, where he performed in drama groups and was a member of the Alpha Omega Theta fraternity.  After briefly attending Nassau Community College, he enrolled in the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in Manhattan.  During his stay in the city, he was also a fireman.

His first film role was in Parting Glances (1986), one of the first American films to deal with the issues of AIDS and HIV.  In 1990, he gives a noted performance alongside Laurence Fishburne in Abel Ferrara's King of New York.  One of his most popular roles is as the smart-mouthed Mr. Pink in Quentin Tarantino's Resevoir Dogs (1992).  He would again appear in a Tarantino film with a cameo role in Pulp Fiction (1994).  Buscemi's most critically lauded role is in Ghost World (2001), a performance that landed him a Golden Globe nomination and won him the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Although most of his critical recognition, as shown above, is in smaller indie films, he still has managed to appear in several mainstream blockbusters.  He co-stars in Escape from LA (1996), and the Jerry Bruckheimer productions of Con Air (1996) and Armageddon (1998).  Buscemi also appears in comedic supporting roles alongside Adam Sandler in Billy Madison (1995), The Wedding Singer (1998), Big Daddy (1999), and Mr. Deeds (2002).

He has directed four feature films, which although all small in budget, have fairly noteworthy casts.  His debut Trees Lounge (1996) is a dark comedy about a self-destructive alcoholic played by Buscemi.  The film is also notable for its ensemble cast, including Anthony LaPaglia, Daniel Baldwin, and Samuel L. Jackson.  The prison drama Animal Factory (2000) stars Wilem Dafoe and Edward Furlong.  Lonesome Jim (2005) stars Casey Affleck as a depressed novelist who moves back in with his parents and falls for a nurse played by Liv Tyler.  His latest film Interview (2007) is a remake of a film by the same name directed by controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. Buscemi again stars in his own film as a political journalist who is forced to do a tabloid piece on a young starlet played by Sienna Miller. In addition to features, Buscemi has directed episodes on several popular television programs.  His credits include one episode of Homicide: Life on the Street (for which he received a DGA nomination), two episodes of Oz, four episodes of The Sopranos (receiving nominations from the DGA and the Prime Time Emmy Awards), one episode of 30 Rock, and four episodes of Nurse Jackie.

Buscemi is a frequent collaborator of the Coen brothers, appearing in five of their full-length films and one short film.  The only actors to appear in more Coen films are Francis McDormand, John Turturro, and John Goodman.

His first three roles for the Coens are very minor, borderline cameos.  In Miller's Crossing, Buscemi appears in one scene as the bookie Mink Larouie who is caught up in a gang war due to his homosexual relationships with bookie Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro) and fierce hitman Eddie Dane (J. E. Freeman).  This role marks the first time he is killed off in a Coen film.  His next role is Chet, the friendly but repetitive bellhop in Barton Fink (1991).  Buscemi appears as the beatnik barman in Hudsucker Proxy (1994), but his role is so small that his character isn't even given a proper name.

The Coens' next film Fargo contains his largest role out of the feature-length collaborations.  He plays Carl Showalter, a "kinda funny lookin'" fast-talking criminal.  Carl and his associate Gaer Grimsrud (Peter Stormare) are hired by Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) to capture Jerry's wife.  The film climaxes with Gaer killing Carl with an axe and forcing the remains of his body through a wood chipper.  The part landed him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Drama at the Satellite awards.

His most recent full length feature collaboration with the Coens was in the cult film The Big Lebowski (1998), where he returned to having a small supporting role.  Buscemi plays Donny, a character who is often "out of his element" and needs to "shut the fuck up."  Buscemi's character is again killed, this time by a heart attack after being attacked by nihilists.

Joel and Ethan would again use Buscemi in their short Tuileries in the omnibus film Paris, Je t'aime (2006).  The comedic short follows an American tourist (Buscemi) while he is waiting at the metro station.