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Steve Buscemi Says Everyone Has Been Pronouncing His Name Wrong, Including Himself

The “Sopranos” actor’s Italian surname has befuddled many.

Do you know how to pronounce “Buscemi”? Probably not, says Steve Buscemi, who claims he’s also confused about how to pronounce his Italian surname. The Emmy award-winning actor, 67, appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show on Wednesday and talked about his cameo on Seth Rogan’s new Apple TV+ series The Studio. In the show, the characters struggle to pronounce the Soprano star’s last name. “At one point, they said ‘Brusch-kemi,’ like bruschetta,” Fallon recounted. “I don’t like that one,” Buscemi said. “Boo-shemi, I like that,” Buscemi retorted. “That is the Italian way to say it, but I just didn’t grow up that way.” Growing up, his family would pronounce it “Bue-semi,” though Buscemi dropped that pronunciation in favor of a combination of the Italian and Italian-American articulations: “boo-semi.” “I don’t know how to say my own name,” Buscemi joked. True to his name, Buscemi is Italian-American through and through; he grew up in the Long Island town of Valley Stream, a community with a significant Italian-American presence. The son of a sanitation worker and hotel hostess, Buscemi became a firefighter before pivoting to acting.