Steve Buscemi

Born: December 13 1957
Where: Brooklyn, New York, USA

The ex-New York fireman's acting career took off when he was introduced to a theate group by a firefighting colleague.

Buscemi then took time out from the fire department to play a major supporting role in Parting Glances and left his old career behind in 1985.

(However, he did volunteer anonymously to help out his former colleagues after the September 11 terrorist attack on New York).

Early TV appearances include Miami Vice and The Equalizer and he gained a degree of fame for numerous collaborations with the Coen brothers.

Outings included Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, Fargo and The Big Lebowski.

His breakthrough supporting role came in 1992 as Mr Pink in Quentin Tarantino's debut feature Reservoir Dogs.

Two years later Buscemi played John Travolta and Uma Thurman's surly Buddy Holly waiter in Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, and in 1996 he was honoured with a tribute at the Sundance Film Festival.

His feature debut as a writer-director was Trees Lounge, and he has since directed Nike TV adverts.

As well as art house projects, Buscemi is equally at home with blockbusters: he appeared in Con Air, Armageddon with Bruce Willis and 28 Days starring Sandra Bullock.

In 2001, he was stabbed during a bar-room brawl in Wilmington, North Carolina, which also included fellow actor Vince Vaughn.

The following year, 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 in Mr Deeds.

The following year he featured in Tim Burton's Big Fish and recent work has included the sci-fi thriller The Island.