Steve Buscemi's wife, Jo Andres, dies at 65
Jo Andres, an artist and filmmaker behind 1996’s Black Kite, has died at the age of 65. The cause of death was not revealed at this time.
Andres was the wife of Boardwalk Empire actor Steve Buscemi. The two married in 1987 and enjoyed a 31-year marriage before her death. Their son, Lucian, was born in 1990.
According to TMZ, the family held a funeral for Andres in their New York City home.
When asked by The Independent for his favorite work of art in 2009, Buscemi said, “Probably something by my wife, Jo Andres. She paints, she makes films, she has done performance.”
Andres garnered recognition in 1980s NYC through a series of film projections used as backdrop for dance pieces.
Black Kite, written and directed by Andres, starred her son in a survival story based on an artist living through the siege of Sarajevo. The work aired on PBS and screened at numerous film festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, and Sundance Film Festival.
Andres was a member of the Art Advisory Board of ISSUE Project Room, a Brooklyn-based non-profit that provides performance spaces for artists. Buscemi is a board member.
“If we don’t have a place where artists can [have] a voice then it’s a loss from the whole culture,” Andres told NBC News in 2011. “It seems like Europe has always known that but we’re always fighting for it here with a lack of funding. We’ve had to push too hard to have our voice heard. I think that it’s really critical, and positive, that we have this space to work in.”
