Steve Buscemi's Secret Life as a NYC Firefighter

Long before he was the twitchy hitman in Reservoir Dogs or the calculating Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire, Steve Buscemi wore a very different uniform. He spent four years pulling shifts as a real New York City firefighter, and when the World Trade Center fell on September 11, 2001, he quietly put that uniform back on.

A Firehouse in Little Italy

Buscemi took the FDNY civil service exam in 1976 and joined Engine Company 55 in Manhattan's Little Italy in 1980. It was one of the busiest firehouses in the city.

He worked there for four years, fighting fires while taking acting classes and doing stand-up comedy on the side.

In 1984 he left the department to chase acting full time, figuring he might return to firefighting someday if Hollywood didn't work out.

Going Back the Day After

Hollywood worked out. By September 2001, Buscemi was a recognizable actor with dozens of film and TV credits.

When the Twin Towers collapsed, he tried calling his old firehouse and got no answer.

The next day, September 12, he pulled on his old turnout coat and helmet and went to find his former company at Ground Zero.

For the next five days, Buscemi worked 12-hour shifts alongside his former crew, digging and sifting through the wreckage of the Twin Towers looking for survivors.

Several firefighters from his old company, including a close friend, were among the missing.

No Interviews, No Photos

What made Buscemi's return notable wasn't just that a famous actor showed up to dig through rubble. It's that he made clear he didn't want any recognition for it.

He declined interviews and asked not to be photographed while he worked, wanting to be treated like any other firefighter on the pile rather than a celebrity doing a good deed.

What It Cost Him

Buscemi has said the experience never fully left him.

Two decades later, he still gets choked up discussing it, and he has described struggling with anxiety and difficulty making simple decisions in the months after he stopped going to Ground Zero.

He has spent the past decade working with Friends of Firefighters, a charity that provides free mental health counseling to active and retired FDNY members and their families.

Buscemi also produced and appeared in the 2014 HBO documentary A Good Job: Stories of the FDNY, which explores the department's history and the lasting toll of 9/11 on the firefighters who worked it.