happy birthday, steve buscemi

The character actor probably best known for Fargo and Reservoir Dogs was born in Brooklyn on this day in 1957. He is a slightly odd looking man with the ability to play psychos, sympathetic losers, and psycho sympathetic losers—not unlike a modern day Peter Lorre, if you will. I liked him best in Ghost World, The Big Lebowski, and in his recurring role on the under appreciated Nickelodeon series from the early nineties, “The Adventures of Pete and Pete”.

His name, by the way, is pronounced "Buss-ehm-ee", not "Boo-see-me". I have gone with this second pronounciation for years now and I have been wrong. However, any number of Camino relatives would have probably interpreted it as "Bucks-am-I".

Here are seven things you might not have known about Steve Buscemi:

1. He resembles director John Waters so much that Waters once jokingly sent out Christmas cards bearing Buscemi’s photo instead of his own.

2. He auditioned for the role of George Costanza on “Seinfeld”.

3. His short cameos are often the best things about any Adam Sandler film.

4. He frequented bars around Montgomery, AL while filming Big Fish and often bought rounds of drinks for all in attendance.

5. He has been in five Coen brother films, and his character was killed in three of them.

6. He has directed several episodes of “The Sopranos”.

7. He was a New York City firefighter in the early eighties and continues to serve as a volunteer fireman. In the days after 9/11 he worked anonymously alongside other volunteer firemen to sift through the rubble of the World Trade Center.