Steve Buscemi

Frequently casts Mark Boone Junior, Seymour Cassel and his brother Michael Buscemi in his films
Frequently plays characters who are fast talkers
Frequently plays cowardly characters
High raspy voice
Often plays characters mixed up in crime

Showed up at his old firehouse the day after the World Trade Center tragedy in New York to volunteer. He worked twelve hour shifts for a week after the terrorist act, digging through rubble with his old comrades looking for missing firefighters, doing so anonymously.
On April 12, 2001, Buscemi was stabbed in the throat, head, and arm during a barroom brawl at the Firebelly Lounge in Wilmington, North Carolina. The brawl also involved Vince Vaughn, who was arrested for refusing to disperse when ordered to by police, and charged with misdemeanor assault. Buscemi suffered a deep cut to the face, leaving a noticeable scar on his cheek. Heavy make-up is used to hide it in movies.
He went through a variety of interesting jobs before hitting it big as a character actor. He worked as a bartender, drove an ice cream truck, attempted stand-up comedy, and (that which he is most proud of) was a professional firefighter (he continues to be a volunteer firefighter). He bombed so bad as a comic, that one night another comic, Paul Reiser, took his place. Years later, Buscemi made a guest appearance on Reiser's sitcom, Mad About You (1992), poking fun at the incident.
Was a New York City fireman from 1980 to 1984, with Manhattan Engine Company #55 in the Little Italy section of New York City.
Fractured his skull when he was hit by the bus when he was young. Some time later, he was hit by a car while chasing a ball which had rolled onto the street. He had cuts and bruises from this accident.

My favorite review described me as the cinematic equivalent of junk mail. I don't know what that means, but it sounds like a dig.
In the beginning, it wasn't even a question of deciding I'm going to do independent film and not commercial films -- I wasn't being offered any commercial films, and there wasn't an independent scene. I did a lot of "so-called" independent films that were really low-budget films trying to be commercial. But you certainly make choices when you have a script written by Jim Jarmusch or the Coen brothers or Alexandre Rockwell; I think any actor would feel lucky to be able to work on projects like that.
It's weird; I was not a really tough guy in high school, but I end up playing all of these psychopaths and criminals. I don't really care who they are, as long as they are complicated and going through something that I can understand and put across.
As much as you tell yourself, 'We made the film and here it is and that is enough,' you would like to come away with something.
I don't tend to think of these characters as losers [I play]. I like the struggles that people have, people who are feeling like they don't fit into society, because I still sort of feel that way.