Steve Buscemi: The Untold Truth

Before becoming a Hollywood star, Steve Buscemi was a New York firefighter in the early 1980s. He eventually left the FDNY to pursue his acting dreams but returned to duty decades later under dire circumstances. "When 9/11 happened, I came back here on the 12th and had my gear, I still had my old, you

Before becoming a Hollywood star, Steve Buscemi was a New York firefighter in the early 1980s. He eventually left the FDNY to pursue his acting dreams but returned to duty decades later under dire circumstances. "When 9/11 happened, I came back here on the 12th and had my gear, I still had my old, you know, my turnout coat and my helmet and the boots," Buscemi told CBS News. The Armageddon actor dug through rubble, searching for survivors for five days at Ground Zero. "It was really confusing and disconcerting," he recalled. "There was something about being there that was also very comforting, and I remember that surprising me. I went there to help, but I was the one who was helped, you know? It really helped me."

Buscemi's support for his fellow first responders didn't end there. In 2014, he produced an HBO documentary titled A Good Job: Stories of the NYFD. The project encourages first responders to seek help. "Firefighters are great at helping others," says Buscemi. "They're great at helping each other. But they don't always know that they themselves are in need, you know? Their first reaction would be, 'Oh, the next guy has it worse, you know? It was nothing, you know, that I went through. It wasn't just that bad. But that guy? Oh, that family, you know? They had it worse." According to the New York Daily News, the doc "accomplishes the hardest of all feats with firefighters: making them exactly life-size."  

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