Who Is Steve Buscemi Wife
Introduction
Steve Buscemi’s wife was Jo Andres, an American filmmaker, choreographer, and artist born on May 21, 1954, in Wichita, Kansas. Andres was best known for her experimental film, dance, and performance work, including the acclaimed 1996 film Black Kites.
Steve Buscemi is an American actor, director, and writer famous for films such as Reservoir Dogs, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and Ghost World, as well as his Emmy-winning work in Boardwalk Empire.
Buscemi and Andres shared a long creative and personal partnership. They met in New York City in the early 1980s, married in 1987, and had one son, Lucian. Andres died in 2019, ending a marriage that had lasted more than three decades.
Today, Steve Buscemi is married to Karen Ho, whom he quietly married in 2025. However, Jo Andres remains the woman most closely associated with his first and longest-known marriage.
This article looks at Jo Andres’s background, career, relationship with Buscemi, family life, and lasting artistic legacy.
Who Is Jo Andres?
Jo Andres, whose birth name was Mary Jo Andres, was an American filmmaker, choreographer, and visual artist. She was born on May 21, 1954, in Wichita, Kansas, and became an important figure in New York’s experimental performance-art community.
Andres developed an interest in dance while she was young. Her artistic path eventually led her to Ohio University, where she studied dance and film. Ohio University confirms that she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance in 1980 and a Master of Fine Arts in Film in 1984.
Her education played an important role in shaping the unusual combination of movement, film, light, and visual art that became central to her career. Rather than following a conventional Hollywood path, Andres became associated with New York’s downtown experimental-art scene during the 1980s.
Her performances appeared at venues including the Performing Garage, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, P.S. 122, St. Mark’s Danspace, and the Collective for Living Cinema.
Andres later expanded her work into filmmaking, editing, choreography, photography, and multimedia performance. Her artistic interests were broad, and she continued developing projects throughout her life.
She was also known professionally as Jo Buscemi after marrying Steve Buscemi, although Jo Andres remained the name most commonly associated with her artistic career.
Andres died on January 6, 2019, in Brooklyn, New York, at age 64. Her death was related to complications from ovarian cancer.
Jo Andres’s Career & Professional Life
Jo Andres built a respected career that existed largely outside mainstream Hollywood. She first gained attention through experimental film, dance, and light performances in New York during the 1980s. Her work brought together different artistic forms instead of staying within one medium.
She eventually moved more deeply into filmmaking. One of her best-known projects was Black Kites, a 1996 film that received significant attention at international film festivals. The film aired on PBS and screened at festivals including Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, London, and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
Andres also worked on other film and performance projects. Her credits included editing What Happened to Pete, a 1992 short directed by Steve Buscemi, and choreography for The Impostors, the 1998 film directed by Stanley Tucci. She also directed Lillian Kiesler: On the Head of a Pin in 2000.
Her creative work was not limited to movies. Andres produced music and art videos and created cyanotype photographs. She was also a dance consultant for the Wooster Group and served as an artist in residence at institutions and art colonies including Yaddo and the Rockefeller Study Center in Bellagio, Italy.
There is no reliable public figure for Jo Andres’s personal net worth. Because she worked mainly in experimental art and independent filmmaking, online celebrity-net-worth estimates should be treated cautiously.
Her artistic legacy is now preserved through archival efforts supporting her film, dance, photography, and performance work.
How Did Steve Buscemi and Jo Andres Meet?
Steve Buscemi and Jo Andres met in New York City in 1983. According to Buscemi’s later comments, they were neighbors in Manhattan’s East Village.
Their relationship developed in an environment that suited both of them: New York’s creative downtown scene. Buscemi was establishing himself as an actor while Andres was developing her career in experimental performance, dance, and film.
Their connection was not simply based on Hollywood fame. Both were working artists who understood the demands and uncertainties of creative careers.
They dated for several years before getting married in 1987. Their relationship remained relatively private compared with many celebrity marriages. Even as Buscemi became increasingly famous, the couple generally kept their personal lives away from constant media attention.
Their partnership also included professional collaboration. Andres worked as an editor on What Happened to Pete, a short film written and directed by Buscemi in 1992.
Buscemi often spoke warmly about Andres’s artistic talent. In a 2009 interview with The Independent, he identified a work by his wife as his favorite piece of art and highlighted the fact that she painted, made films, and created performance art.
The couple’s relationship therefore combined marriage, family, friendship, and shared artistic interests. They remained together until Andres’s death in January 2019.
Marriage & Wedding Details
Steve Buscemi and Jo Andres married in 1987 after several years together. Public sources do not provide extensive details about the ceremony, including a widely documented venue, guest list, or elaborate wedding theme. Their preference for privacy meant that the marriage was never treated like a major celebrity spectacle.
What is clear is that the marriage lasted for more than 30 years. During that time, Buscemi’s acting career grew from independent films into major Hollywood productions and acclaimed television roles, while Andres continued her work as an artist and filmmaker.
The couple’s relationship was also marked by creative collaboration. Their shared understanding of independent art and filmmaking gave their marriage a distinctive character.
Andres remained Buscemi’s wife until her death on January 6, 2019. She was 64.
Children & Family Life
Steve Buscemi and Jo Andres had one child, their son Lucian Buscemi. He was born in 1990.
The family maintained a relatively private lifestyle despite Buscemi’s growing fame. Rather than turning family life into a regular feature of celebrity media, Buscemi and Andres largely kept their son away from unnecessary public attention.
Lucian grew up surrounded by creative influences. His mother was a filmmaker and artist, while his father became one of the most recognizable character actors of his generation. Andres’s 1996 film Black Kites also included Lucian.
After Andres’s death, Buscemi spoke publicly about the difficulty of mourning his longtime wife. In a 2020 interview, he described grief as a slow process and discussed how painful it had been to watch her battle cancer.
Buscemi has continued his professional career while preserving memories of Andres and their life together.
In more recent years, Buscemi has found love again. He married Karen Ho in early 2025, according to recent reporting, making Jo Andres his late first wife rather than his current spouse.
Jo Andres on Social Media
Jo Andres was not a social-media celebrity, and there is no reliable public Instagram follower count to report for her as an individual. Her career predated the era when artists were expected to build large personal social-media audiences.
Her artistic legacy is instead represented through archival projects and collections documenting her films, photographs, performances, posters, and other creative materials. The Jo Andres archive preserves work from her decades-long career and continues to introduce audiences to her artistic contributions.
Because Andres died in 2019, social-media accounts using her name should be checked carefully before being treated as official.
Quick Facts About Jo Andres
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Mary Jo Andres |
| Date of Birth | May 21, 1954 |
| Nationality | American |
| Profession | Filmmaker, choreographer, artist |
| Married to | Steve Buscemi |
| Marriage Year | 1987 |
| Children | One son, Lucian Buscemi |
| Net Worth | Not reliably reported |
| Date of Death | January 6, 2019 |
| Age at Death | 64 |
Steve Buscemi Wife FAQs
Q: What is Steve Buscemi’s wife name?
A: Steve Buscemi’s late first wife was Jo Andres, an American filmmaker, choreographer, and artist. They married in 1987 and remained together until her death in 2019.
Buscemi later married Karen Ho in 2025, so Karen Ho is his current wife.
Q: How old was Jo Andres?
A: Jo Andres was born on May 21, 1954, and died on January 6, 2019. She was 64 years old when she died.
She spent decades working in filmmaking, choreography, performance, and visual art.
Q: What did Jo Andres do for a living?
A: Jo Andres was a filmmaker, choreographer, and artist who worked primarily in experimental film and performance art.
She directed Black Kites, created music and art videos, worked as a choreographer, and produced visual-art projects.
Q: When did Steve Buscemi and Jo Andres get married?
A: Steve Buscemi and Jo Andres married in 1987 after meeting in New York City in 1983. They remained married for more than three decades.
Their marriage ended only with Andres’s death in January 2019.
Q: How many kids did Steve Buscemi and Jo Andres have?
A: Steve Buscemi and Jo Andres had one child, their son Lucian Buscemi, who was born in 1990.
The family generally kept its private life away from the spotlight despite Buscemi’s long Hollywood career.
Conclusion
Jo Andres was much more than Steve Buscemi’s late wife. She was an accomplished American filmmaker, choreographer, and artist whose career grew from New York’s experimental performance scene into internationally screened film and visual-art projects. Her 1996 film Black Kites remains among her best-known works, while her archives continue to preserve her creative legacy.
Buscemi and Andres married in 1987 and welcomed their son Lucian in 1990. Their partnership lasted more than 30 years until Andres died in 2019. Although Steve Buscemi has since remarried Karen Ho, Jo Andres remains an important part of his personal and creative history. The story behind the Steve Buscemi wife search is ultimately one of love, art, family, and a lasting legacy.
