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.”
