Little about Steve Buscemi suggests Hollywood megastar. Yet his shaggy hair, pallid complexion, those large eerie and sad eyes and slightly crooked teeth have combined to make him one of the most recognised faces on television and cinema. The quirky looks, and an unprepossessing character, mask an absolutely brilliant performer.

He brings such complexity to the bad guys he plays – often neurotic oddballs – that his name must be on speed dial if casting agents want the perfect creepy, convincing misfit.

In HBO's Boardwalk Empire, which came to an end in autumn 2014 with its 56th and final episode, he finally got his chance to be the main man. After it began in September 2010, the awards flowed for his portrayal of Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson. Buscemi won a Golden Globe for best actor and two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series, along with numerous other Emmy nominations.

Buscemi is a fascinating character off screen, too. Born in Brooklyn on December 13 1957, he came from an ordinary, non-acting family of Irish-Sicillian descent (his mother was a hostess and his father a sanitation worker) and he survived his own share of scrapes. As a youngster, he fractured his skull when he was hit by a bus and was also hit by a car while chasing a ball. The dramatic incidents continued in adulthood. In 2001 he was stabbed three times when he was caught up in a bar brawl involving his friend Vince Vaughn.