Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#95
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Steve Buscemi represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 37 years in, and Steve is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Steve Buscemi appears in 86 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Steve. Pulp Fiction is the clearest case: a film rated 9.2 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for comedy, music, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Andy Serkis, Noah Segan, Taika Waititi and others, Steve Buscemi helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Pulp Fiction (1994) as Buddy Holly · Pulp Fiction (1994) as Buddy Holly · Reservoir Dogs (1992) as Mr. Pink
Career snapshot
Ranked #95 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
86
1989–2026
Career length
37 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
9.2
Pulp Fiction
Average Nutevio score
6.2
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.9
Pulp Fiction
Most frequent director
Joel Coen
6 films together
Longest collaboration
6×
With Joel Coen
Most common genre
Comedy
53 titles
Average runtime
1h 43m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.9
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.8
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1990s
7.1 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Big Daddy, The Big Lebowski, Armageddon — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.1
Across 23 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
7.0
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1990s
1 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Big Daddy, The Big Lebowski, Armageddon.
Most productive era
2000s
26 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.21 film | 7.310 films | 6.611 films | 6.07 films | 3.44 films |
| Action | — | 6.65 films | 5.85 films | 5.72 films | — |
| Thriller | — | 7.111 films | 6.32 films | 5.51 film | 0.01 film |
| Comedy | 6.82 films | 7.110 films | 6.216 films | 6.214 films | 4.911 films |
| Crime | — | 7.413 films | 6.02 films | 5.51 film | 3.52 films |
| Romance | 6.21 film | 6.81 film | 6.17 films | — | — |
| Horror | — | 6.21 film | 6.01 film | 5.41 film | 5.91 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1989New York Stories
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Gregory Stark.
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
1994Pulp Fiction
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 9.2 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
The current state of the argument.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
86 of 86 films
as Buddy Holly
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
as Buddy Holly
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
as Mr. Pink
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
as Randall (voice)
Directed by Pete Docter
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Showing 24 of 111 titles · 122 total credits · active 1989–2026
Don't Say Good Luck
2026 · Actor
Animal Farm
2026 · Mr. Whymper (voice)
Roommates
2026 · Celeste's Dad
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York
2026 · Ben
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World
2026 · Self
Klara and the Sun
2026 · Actor
Public Access
2026 · Executive Producer
Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer
2025 · Kollmick
Happy Gilmore 2
2025 · Bad Neighbor Pat
The Studio
2025 · TV · Steve Buscemi
Transformers One
2024 · Starscream (voice)
Carole & Grey
2024 · Shapeshifter
Fantasmas
2024 · TV · Q
Vacation Friends 2
2023 · Reese Hackford
Poker Face
2023 · TV · Good Buddy (voice)
Krapopolis
2023 · TV · Hephaestus (voice)
Digman!
2023 · TV · The Antiquarian (voice)
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania
2022 · Wayne (voice)
Bonnie
2022 · Self
Wednesday
2022 · TV · Barry Dort
StoryBots: Answer Time
2022 · TV
Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years
2021 · TV · Dorsal Dan (voice)
Monsters at Work
2021 · TV · Randall (voice)
Beastie Boys Story
2020 · Self
The defining work
#1
Buddy Holly
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Performance score8.8
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Buddy Holly gives Steve Buscemi a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Buddy Holly
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Performance score8.4
Pulp Fiction asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Buddy Holly is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Mr. Pink
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Performance score8.3
Reservoir Dogs asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Mr. Pink is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Carl Showalter
Fargo (1996)
Performance score8.2
Fargo asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Carl Showalter is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Buddy Holly
Start here. Pulp Fiction is the clearest statement of what Steve Buscemi does — accessible, 154 minutes, and rated 9.2 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Steve at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Same director as Pulp Fiction, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Same director as Reservoir Dogs, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Fargo (1996)
Keeps the crime register of Pulp Fiction but asks for a colder reading of it.
Monsters, Inc. (2001)
A deliberate change of key after Fargo — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Joel Coen
Director
6 films together
Notably The Big Lebowski
Quentin Tarantino
Director
4 films together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Dennis Dugan
Director
4 films together
Notably Big Daddy
Robert Rodriguez
Director
3 films together
Notably Desperado
Steve Buscemi
Director
3 films together
Notably Trees Lounge
Michael Bay
Director
3 films together
Notably Armageddon
Genndy Tartakovsky
Director
3 films together
Notably Hotel Transylvania
Jim Jarmusch
Director
3 films together
Notably Mystery Train
Terry Zwigoff
Director
2 films together
Notably Ghost World
Frank Coraci
Director
2 films together
Notably The Wedding Singer
Steven Brill
Director
2 films together
Notably Hubie Halloween
Francis Ford Coppola
Director
1 film together
Notably New York Stories
John Harrison
Director
1 film together
Notably Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
Abel Ferrara
Director
1 film together
Notably King of New York
Robert Benton
Director
1 film together
Notably Billy Bathgate
Philip Kaufman
Director
1 film together
Notably Rising Sun
Michael Lehmann
Director
1 film together
Notably Airheads
Gary Fleder
Director
1 film together
Notably Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead
Tom DiCillo
Director
1 film together
Notably Living in Oblivion
John Carpenter
Director
1 film together
Notably Escape from L.A.
Simon West
Director
1 film together
Notably Con Air
Betty Thomas
Director
1 film together
Notably 28 Days
Pete Docter
Director
1 film together
Notably Monsters, Inc.
Tim Burton
Director
1 film together
Notably Big Fish
Will Finn
Director
1 film together
Notably Home on the Range
John Turturro
Director
1 film together
Notably Romance & Cigarettes
Chris Rock
Director
1 film together
Notably I Think I Love My Wife
Miguel Arteta
Director
1 film together
Notably Youth in Revolt
Walter Salles
Director
1 film together
Notably On the Road
Anthony Silverston
Director
1 film together
Notably Khumba
Don Scardino
Director
1 film together
Notably The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
Tom McCarthy
Director
1 film together
Notably The Cobbler
Joseph Cedar
Director
1 film together
Notably Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer
Tom McGrath
Director
1 film together
Notably The Boss Baby
Armando Iannucci
Director
1 film together
Notably The Death of Stalin
Andrew Haigh
Director
1 film together
Notably Lean on Pete
Robert Smigel
Director
1 film together
Notably The Week Of
Judd Apatow
Director
1 film together
Notably The King of Staten Island
Spike Jonze
Director
1 film together
Notably Beastie Boys Story
Derek Drymon
Director
1 film together
Notably Hotel Transylvania: Transformania
Clay Tarver
Director
1 film together
Notably Vacation Friends 2
Jon Bass
Director
1 film together
Notably Carole & Grey
Josh Cooley
Director
1 film together
Notably Transformers One
Kyle Newacheck
Director
1 film together
Notably Happy Gilmore 2
Taika Waititi
Director
1 film together
Notably Klara and the Sun
Noah Segan
Director
1 film together
Notably The Only Living Pickpocket in New York
Andy Serkis
Director
1 film together
Notably Animal Farm
Christopher Walken
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
John Travolta
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Samuel L. Jackson
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Uma Thurman
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Bruce Willis
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Ving Rhames
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Harvey Keitel
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Eric Stoltz
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Tim Roth
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Amanda Plummer
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Maria de Medeiros
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Joel Coen
Director
6 films together · 7.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 6 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Big LebowskiQuentin Tarantino
Director
4 films together · 8.4 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 4 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Pulp FictionDennis Dugan
Director
4 films together · 6.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 4 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Big DaddyGenndy Tartakovsky
Director
3 films together · 6.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Hotel TransylvaniaMichael Bay
Director
3 films together · 6.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
ArmageddonJim Jarmusch
Director
3 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Mystery TrainSteve Buscemi
Director
3 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Trees LoungeRobert Rodriguez
Director
3 films together · 5.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
DesperadoTerry Zwigoff
Director
2 films together · 6.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Ghost WorldFrank Coraci
Director
2 films together · 6.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Wedding SingerSteven Brill
Director
2 films together · 5.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Hubie HalloweenPete Docter
Director
1 film together · 8.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Monsters, Inc.Josh Cooley
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Transformers OneTim Burton
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Big FishSpike Jonze
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Beastie Boys StoryTom DiCillo
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Living in OblivionDerek Drymon
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hotel Transylvania: TransformaniaJudd Apatow
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The King of Staten IslandArmando Iannucci
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Death of StalinAndrew Haigh
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Lean on PeteSimon West
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Con AirAbel Ferrara
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
King of New YorkKyle Newacheck
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Happy Gilmore 2Tom McGrath
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Boss BabyGary Fleder
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Things to Do in Denver When You're DeadAndy Serkis
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Animal FarmClay Tarver
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Vacation Friends 2Michael Lehmann
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AirheadsBetty Thomas
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
28 DaysJohn Harrison
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tales from the Darkside: The MovieFrancis Ford Coppola
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
New York StoriesMiguel Arteta
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Youth in RevoltWill Finn
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Home on the RangePhilip Kaufman
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Rising SunAnthony Silverston
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
KhumbaJohn Turturro
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Romance & CigarettesTom McCarthy
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The CobblerJohn Carpenter
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Escape from L.A.Don Scardino
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Incredible Burt WonderstoneRobert Benton
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Billy BathgateWalter Salles
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
On the RoadRobert Smigel
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Week OfJoseph Cedar
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York FixerChris Rock
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
I Think I Love My WifeJon Bass
Director
1 film together · 1.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Carole & GreyNoah Segan
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Only Living Pickpocket in New YorkTaika Waititi
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Klara and the SunSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Recognition
1 win
1 win · latest 1995
Pulp Fiction
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Pulp Fiction
as Buddy Holly
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Big Fish
as Norther Winslow
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Pulp Fiction
as Buddy Holly
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Transformers: The Last Knight
as Daytrader (voice)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Pulp Fiction
as Buddy Holly
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Steve Buscemi has known it for a long time.”
“They call it a Royale with cheese.”
“English, motherf—er, do you speak it?”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
| Nutevio Performer Score | 7.9 | 9.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #516 of 681 | #1 of 681 |
| Awards on file | Unknown | 3 recorded |
| Oscar wins | Unknown | 1 |
| Oscar nominations | Unknown | 5 |
| Average Nutevio score | 9.2 | 9.1 |
| Genres | Crime, Drama | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, History |
| Directors | Quentin Tarantino | Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese |
| Performance DNA | Drama, Quiet performance, Screen presence | Transformation, Drama, Screen presence |
| Career timeline | 1994–1994 | 2006–2026 |
| Most iconic role | Buddy Holly — Pulp Fiction | Odysseus — The Odyssey |
| Most rewatchable film | Pulp Fiction | Interstellar |
| Filmography | 1 catalogue film | 4 catalogue films |
Films together
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared directors
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared collections
Top 250 Movies of All Time, Crime Movies, Top 100 Crime Movies, Drama Movies
Matt Damon edges ahead here — a higher floor across a comparable body of work.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
37 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
53 catalogue titles in comedy, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Pulp Fiction
as Buddy Holly
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Pulp Fiction
as Buddy Holly
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Paris Je T'aime
as Touriste (Tuileries)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Domestic Disturbance
as Ray Coleman
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Pulp Fiction
as Buddy Holly
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Ridiculous 6
as Doc Griffin
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Death of Stalin
as Nikita Khrushchev
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Pulp Fiction
as Buddy Holly
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
Across the library
Every Nutevio collection this name turns up in, and how high they rank there.
Collection footprint
Appears in 4 Nutevio collections
Keep reading
From the magazine
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Al Pacino
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Harvey Keitel
Works with the same directors — Quentin Tarantino
Have your say
Community
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