Topic: Steve Buscemi

Steven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi (/buˈʃɛmi/ boo-shem-ee; born December 13, 1957) is an American actor, writer and film director. An associate member of the renowned experimental theater company The Wooster Group, Buscemi has starred in successful Hollywood and indie films including Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, Reservoir Dogs, The Hudsucker Proxy, Desperado, Fargo, Escape from L.A., Con Air, The Big Lebowski, Armageddon, and Big Fish; and the HBO television series The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire, the latter of which earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe.

Buscemi was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Dorothy (née Wilson), who worked as a hostess at Howard Johnson's, and John Buscemi, a sanitation worker and Korean War veteran. Buscemi's father was of Sicilian descent, his ancestors from Menfi, and Buscemi's mother was of part Irish ancestry. He has three brothers: Jon, Ken, and Michael. Buscemi was raised Roman Catholic.

He graduated in 1975 from Valley Stream Central High School in Valley Stream, New York, a school which he attended with actress Patricia Charbonneau. In high school, Buscemi wrestled for the varsity squad and participated in the drama troupe, at the 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.