10 Movie Stars Who Gave Their Best Ever Performance On TV

Over the last 30 years, Steve Buscemi has carved out a fine niche for himself as a memorable supporting player in countless beloved movies - Reservoir Dogs, Fargo, Desperado, Con Air, The Big Lebowski, Armageddon, and Ghost World - and after an acclaimed TV run on The Sopranos, took the leading role of his career in Boardwalk Empire.

The Martin Scorsese-created period crime drama series cast Buscemi as protagonist Nucky Thompson, a corrupt politico with intimate ties to the mob, a part for which Buscemi won a Golden Globe as well as numerous SAG awards, and was also nominated for two Emmys.

Buscemi might not be the first actor you'd think of in a part like this, but this is something Buscemi and Scorsese both seemed acutely aware of, leaning into his understated qualities as an actor and in turn fashioning one of the more unconventional protagonists of any prestige crime series.

Tony Soprano or Walter White Nucky is not, yet Buscemi nevertheless imbues him with an underlying intensity that's unsettling and authoritative all by itself.

In a series filled with fantastic actors, Buscemi is the anchor keeping everyone on an even keel.