Steve Buscemi

Quentin Tarantino built Reservoir Dogs around actors whose faces looked capable of actual crimes, and Buscemi's face fit that requirement like no one else available in 1992. As Mr. Pink, arguing against tipping with the energy of a man who has genuinely worked the problem, he gave one of the defining performances of a film that became a blueprint. The Coens had already been watching. They put him in six of their films, making him one of their most constant presences across the catalog, alongside Frances McDormand and John Goodman.

Boardwalk Empire settled the debate. Not a quirky sidekick, not a Quentin Tarantino fixture. As Nucky Thompson, a Prohibition-era Atlantic City boss, Buscemi won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama Series and made it look inevitable. In May 2024, he got sucker-punched on a Midtown sidewalk in an unprovoked attack that left him hospitalized with a swollen eye. Police eventually arrested Clifton Williams on felony assault charges, upgraded from misdemeanor because Buscemi was 66, a senior citizen in the eyes of the law.

The FDNY thing isn't a footnote. Buscemi served as a New York City firefighter from 1980 to 1984, Engine Company 55 in Little Italy, while taking acting classes on the side. After September 11, he drove back to his old firehouse the next morning and worked 12-hour shifts for a week digging through rubble. The guy who usually plays the scared one in movies showed up for the actual emergency. He also directed The Sopranos episode 'Pine Barrens,' one of the most celebrated episodes in the show's run.