Polito also portrayed "hungry i" nightclub impresario Enrico Banducci in a large supporting role in Tim Burton's 2014 film Big Eyes starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz.

[3] Polito was initially reluctant to audition for Homicide as he had just relocated from New York City to Los Angeles, and did not want to move to Baltimore for the series.

[4] The show was rating poorly and the producers were under pressure from NBC to include a new female character (Megan Russert) in the hope of gaining broader appeal.

[4] The outburst caused a rift with Fontana,[1] and the Crosetti character was killed off early in Season 3, with the explanation that the detective had committed suicide.

He said that he and Fontana had subsequently reconciled, and as a result the Crosetti character returned to make a farewell appearance as a spirit in Homicide: The Movie.

[6] He later appeared in The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) as an eccentric businessman, The Big Lebowski (1998) as a private detective and finally in 2001 as a flirtatious salesman in The Man Who Wasn't There.