Forever grateful. While accepting an award at the CinemaCon Big Screen Achievement Awards, Steve Buscemi thanked his late wife, Jo Andres, for always standing by his side.
“I do want to thank my family that’s been so supportive: my parents, my brothers, also my son, and also my wife, Jo,” Buscemi, 61, said while accepting the Cinema Icon Award at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Thursday, April 4. “We knew each other going back. You know this business can be a challenge to relationships, but you know you stick it out and there are rewards. And I’m so grateful to her. She was my biggest supporter, and also audience, and my biggest inspiration.”
The Boardwalk Empire alum also thanked the movie professionals who have helped him throughout his career. He gushed, “I couldn’t do what I do without all the incredible directors, actors, writers, producers [and] studios. I feel like I’m the luckiest actor on earth. All I’ve ever wanted to do was be a working actor.”
Andres, a filmmaker, died in January at the age of 64. The couple, who shared son Lucian, were married for more than 30 years. Andres worked as an editor on the 1992 short What Happened to Pete, which Buscemi starred in, wrote and directed. The actor, who was Andres’ biggest fan, later told The Independent that his favorite work of art was “something by my wife Jo Andres.”
In August 2011, the Miracle Workers actor said that Andres did not recognize him as a celebrity when they crossed paths for the first time. “When we met, she didn’t realize I was the guy on the poster,” he recalled to The Mirror at the time. “When we got to my apartment, she saw the same poster and said, ‘That’s you!'”
With reporting by Ryan Slattery
