While showboating acts of charity are all too common in Hollywood, it's the quiet, modest acts of kindness that make me respect actors the most. I'm lukewarm on Brangelina's gaggle of adoptees: I'm sure the kids have a much better life than most, but I can't help but think they're living trophies for overexcited do-gooders. Better a celebrity collectible than starving or dead, I suppose, but still. Then, of course, you get the U2 school of Christian charity where you convince yourself that you're God's gift to humankind and all of your sweeping (and expensive) gestures are somehow bettering the world by vast degrees. It's okay to spend thousands and thousands on concert lights as long as some small portion of your income goes to humanitarian aid somewhere in the world, right? 

But then you get dudes like Steve Buscemi, who's famous mostly now for being odd-looking. His eyes have been the subject of many a photoshopped mockery (see Chicks With Steve Buscemeyes for some nightmare fodder) and his offbeat demeanor has landed him many a role in strange films. There's no one else quite like the guy in terms of his particular acting skill set, and it turns out he's a mighty fine human being as well. 

Back before he landed his first film role, Steve Buscemi worked as a firefighter in New York on FDNY Engine 55. That alone puts him a few steps above most actors on the good person ladder; kids who go from school to the soundstage generally don't get to experience what it's like to work a real job with real challenges. Having talent that carries you through your whole life is awesome, but it's probably more awesome if you get to know what it's like to have a job that's not acting before you make it big. In either case, Buscemi didn't let his acting career negate his service roots. The day after 9/11, he got back in touch with his old unit and signed up to help out with the aftermath. It wasn't a publicity stunt, either; he was in the thick of it digging through rubble with his co-workers, pulling bodies out of the wreckage like a champ. Most of the general population, let alone the Hollywood sector, probably isn't cut out for that sort of work. And he declined all interviews and photos regarding the matter. He just went in and got the work done like any other firefighter--in 12 hour shifts, no less. 

So please, actors, unless I see you directly helping out in the aftermath of a terrorist attack, I'm going to be skeptical of the tiny fraction of your income that goes toward supposedly charitable causes. I'm probably going to scoff at the product lines you come out with that donate 5% of all proceeds to something that makes rich people feel warm inside. Steve Buscemi dug people out of the ruins of the World Trade Center on September 12th, 2001. Your attempts at cultivating a well-to-do public image by broadcasting your alleged humanity seem a little false now. Steve Buscemi is probably better than you.