A prolific character player in films since the mid-1980s and a veritable good luck charm for 90s independent filmmakers, Steve Buscemi was a graduate of the NYC downtown theater and performance art scene of the late 70s. After his 1984 debut in a low-budget experimental feature ("The Way It Is, or Eurydice in the Avenue"), he went on to numerous appearances in interesting, off-beat productions (set in New York, more often than not) and increasing forays into more mainstream fare. The New York Post (October 21, 1992) offered an on-target physical description of this fascinating character actor: "Pale and thin, with a face that resembles a strange mix of Don Knotts, Peter Lorre and David Carradine. . . ." The Lorre comparison is particularly apt as both excelled at playing losers and lackeys and had a tendency to get roughed up as well. Though neither actor was conventional leading man material--a writer for OUT seemed to delight in describing Buscemi as a "rake-thin fellow with full lips, crooked teeth, and big buggy blue eyes"--both played leads and gained cult followings. The contemporary performer, however, has diversified into producing, directing and screenwriting. Buscemi made a striking early impression as Nick, an embittered and acerbic musician with AIDS, in the late Bill Sherwood's landmark gay independent feature "Parting Glances" (1986). Though a supporting character, he wrested the spotlight from the ostensible leads with impressive ease. Buscemi had taken a leave of absence from his job as a Soho fireman to concentrate on the performance. Seeing his work in the film gave him the confidence to quit the fire department to pursue acting full-time. The son of an NYC Sanitation Department worker, Buscemi hailed from middle-class communities in Brooklyn's East New York and Long Island's Valley Stream. Despite his slender frame, he excelled in high school athletics, only discovering acting in his senior year. Dropping out of Nassau Community College after a semester as a liberal arts major, Buscemi heeded the advice of his father to utilize settlement money from a childhood accident to take acting lessons with John Strasberg at the Lee Strasberg Institute in NYC. The wise elder also urged his son to take the Civil Service exam for the NYC Fire Department. Waiting for his name to come up on the list, Buscemi drove an ice cream truck and worked as a furniture mover. He moved to the East Village and became part of the performing art scene, performing stand-up comedy with actor Rockets Redglare and co-writing, directing, and performing his own shows with actor Mark Boone Jr. Buscemi initially kept mum about his nocturnal activities once he was hired as a firefighter. "Outed" by a fellow fireman-actor, he began performing stand-up at firefighter parties. Work came steadily for Buscemi once he focused on acting. His first A-list production was James Ivory's "Slaves of New York" (1989), set in the familiar milieu of Manhattan's East Village. Buscemi remained downtown to portray a performance artist in Martin Scorsese's "Life Lessons" segment of the omnibus feature "New York Stories" (1989). He had more to do later that year playing an unlucky barber down South in Jim Jarmusch's "Mystery Train". Buscemi tried his hand at more traditional--if still idiosyncratic--genre fare playing the gang's "pharmacist" in Abel Ferrara's "King of New York" and a small but pivotal role as a homosexual, small-time crook in the Coen brothers' "Miller's Crossing" (both 1990). Buscemi achieved several career milestones in 1992, gaining attention as Mr. Pink, a would-be diamond thief who refuses to tip waitresses, in Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" and landing his first starring role in Alexandre Rockwell's "In the Soup". The latter had him playing a young aspiring filmmaker who gets involved with an eccentric gangster (Seymour Cassel) to finance his first film. Buscemi again starred as a struggling indie director in Tom DiCillo's comedy "Living in Oblivion" (1995). He has also turned up in small parts in films running the gamut from "Billy Bathgate" (1991) to "Rising Sun" (1993) to Robert Rodriguez's "Desperado" (1995). The last afforded him a terrific sequence in which he recounts a tall tale of the hero's violent exploits to some nervous bar denizens, whereas Rockwell's barely released 1994 feature "Somebody to Love" offered him a striking change of pace as Jackie, a sublimely feminine, transvestite taxi dancer fond of silver heels and skintight, sequined dresses. Having played out-of-control directors in "In the Soup" and "Living in Oblivion", Buscemi stepped behind the camera for real, producing, helming and writing a short film entitled "What Happened to Pete?" (1993), set midday in a Midwestern bar. Obviously familiar with the setting, he made his feature debut as a writer-director with "Trees Lounge" (1996), named after his favorite Valley Stream watering hole. Owing significant debts to the actor-oriented suburban angst features of actor-writer-director John Cassavetes, this modest comedy-drama starred Buscemi as an unemployed barfly whose life appears stymied. He has said that the film is semi-autobiographical in its depiction of what his life would have been like had he not escaped Long Island, and he takes a page from his own resume by having his character work in a gas station and drive an ice cream truck. Low-key and light on plot, the low-budget feature received favorable if not wildly enthusiastic notices. The always busy Buscemi appeared in a slew of 1996 features, essaying the brother of the missing title character in "The Search for One-Eyed Jimmy", a vicious mob thug in Robert Altman's "Kansas City", and 'Map to the Stars' Eddie, an amoral, opportunistic agent of tomorrow in "John Carpenter's Escape from L.A.". No film showcased him better or introduced him to more people that year than the Coens' "Fargo", a small, darkly humorous yarn of the perfect crime gone awry that surprised its makers by breaking into the mainstream and earning its star Frances Mcdormanda Best Actress Oscar, among its many commendations. Hired to help kidnap William H Macy's wife, Buscemi's ferret-faced ex-con bumbles through a comedy of errors in murder and mayhem, leading to his eventual demise in a wood chipper. Buscemi's face had helped launch countless indies, and he had turned up as a surly Buddy Holly waiter in Tarantino's wildly popular "Pulp Fiction" (1994). Following the success of "Fargo", he suddenly found himself with a significant role in a true action blockbuster, portraying legendary serial killer Garland Greene and vying with John Malkovich for top honors as most psychotic among the criminals aboard Simon West's "Con Air" (1997), the first solo producing effort from Jerry Bruckheimer. He then reteamed with Bruckheimer for an even bigger hit, Michael Bay's "Armageddon" (1998), in which he was part of the asteroid-fighting team led by Bruce Willis There was still time to take small roles for old indie friends like DiCillo ("The Real Blonde" 1997) and Rockwell ("Louis and Frank" 1998), but clearly Buscemi's career had reached a new level. He also appeared as Jeff Bridgesand John Goodman's clueless bowling pal Danny in the Coens' "The Big Lebowski" (also 1998). Buscemi accepted varied assignments behind the camera to develop his directing skills. His work as a commercial director included spots for Nike, and he also helmed episodes of "Homicide: Life on the Street" (NBC) and HBO's "Oz", receiving a Directors Guild of America Award nomination for the former. Building on the strengths of "Trees Lounge", he then delivered as his sophomore feature effort the fine prison drama "Animal Factory" (2000), based on the novel By Edward Bunker. Though Buscemi's low-key seriocomic approach was not for the "Con Air"-"Armageddon" audience, there was plenty of testosterone present in performances from Willem Dafoeas the con who takes young Edward Furlong under his wing and a host of supporting characters like Cassel as a senior prison guard and Dafoe's ally, real ex-cons Danny Trejo and Bunker, and a surprising, almost unrecognizable turn from Mickey Rourke as the outrageously attired, trash-talking 'Jan the Queen'. Taking a small roll as a parole counselor in "Animal Factory", Buscemi similarly played a substance abuse counselor in Betty Thomas' "28 Days" (also 2000), starring Sandra Bullock In 2002, Buscemi reunited with director Robert Rodriguez to film the family-adventure feature "Spy Kids 2: The Island Of Lost Dreams" , and with frequent co-star Adam Sandler, playing Crazy Eyes in the comic's mildly amusing "Mr. Deeds." He also appeared in actor-director Tim Blake Nelson's harrowing Holocaust drama "The Grey Zone" and returned to directing himself with renewed vigor, helming his second edgy episode of "The Sopranos," titled "Everybody Hurts" and sealing a deal to direct the pilot episode of HBO's latest drama in development "Baseball Wives," a series focusing on the live of women married to professional athletes. For the 2004 season of "The Sopranos," Buscemi came out from behind the camera and joined the cast as Tony Soprano's cousin and childhood best friend Tony Blundetto, a former member of the mob family who spent 15 years in prison and emerged intent on going straight and becoming a massage therapist. Back on the big screen, Buscemi had a brief but scene-stealing role in Michael Bay's sci fi thriller "The Island" (2005). A former New York firefighter, Buscemi anonymously volunteered his services to his old firehouse in the wake of the destruction of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, working a week of 12-hour shifts digging through the rubble searching for missing fire crews.