Marisa Tomei (pronounced /məˈrɪsə toʊˈmeɪ/; born December 4, 1964) is an American stage, film and television actress. Following her work on As The World Turns, Tomei came to prominence as a supporting cast member on The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World in 1987. After appearing in a few films, her breakthrough came in 1992 with the comedy My Cousin Vinny, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Appearing in many films over the past fifteen years, her most commercially successful films to date are What Women Want (2000), Anger Management (2003), and Wild Hogs (2007). She received critical acclaim for her performances in Unhook the Stars (1996), Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) and received subsequent Academy Award nominations for her performances in In the Bedroom (2001) and The Wrestler (2008).
Life and career
1964-83: Early life and career beginnings
Tomei, an Italian American, was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Patricia Adelaide "Addie" (née Bianchi), an English teacher, and Gary A. Tomei, a trial lawyer. She has a younger brother, actor Adam Tomei, and was partly raised by her paternal grandparents, Rita and Romeo Tomei. Tomei grew up in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn. While there, she became captivated by the Broadway shows that her theater-loving parents took her to, and became drawn to acting as a career. At Andries Hudde Junior High School, she played the part of Hedy LaRue in a school production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Graduating from Edward R. Murrow High School in 1982, she attended Boston University for a year.
1984-2002: Breakthrough and critical success
Tomei followed up As the World Turns, in 1986, with a role on the sitcom A Different World as Maggie Lauten during the first season. Her film debut was a minor role in the 1984 comedy film The Flamingo Kid, with Matt Dillon. Following several small films, her breakthrough comedic performance came in My Cousin Vinny (1992), where she received critical praise for her performance. Critic Vincent Canby wrote, "Ms. Tomei gives every indication of being a fine comedian, whether towering over Mr. Pesci and trying to look small, or arguing about a leaky faucet in terms that demonstrate her knowledge of plumbing. Mona Lisa is also a first-rate auto mechanic, which comes in handy in the untying of the knotted story." For her performance, Tomei was named Best Supporting Actress at the 1993 Academy Awards, prevailing over Miranda Richardson, Joan Plowright, Vanessa Redgrave and Judy Davis. American film critic Rex Reed created controversy (and a minor Hollywood myth) when he suggested that Jack Palance had announced the wrong name after opening the envelope. While this allegation was repeatedly disproved - even the Academy officially denied it - Tomei called the story "extremely hurtful." A Price Waterhouse accountant explained that if such an event had occurred, "we have an agreement with the Academy that one of us would step on stage, introduce ourselves, and say the presenter misspoke."
After her Oscar win, Tomei appeared as silent film star Mabel Normand in the film Chaplin, with her then-boyfriend Robert Downey Jr. as the title character. The following year she starred in the romantic drama Untamed Heart with Christian Slater where they won the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss. Tomei had won the previous year for Best Breakthrough Performance for My Cousin Vinny. The following year Tomei appeared alongside Downey again in the romantic comedy Only You. She then appeared in Nick Cassavetes's Unhook the Stars opposite Gena Rowlands. Of Tomei's performance, The New York Times wrote, "Ms. Tomei is equally fine as Mildred's younger, hot-tempered neighbor, whose raw working-class feistiness and bluntly profane vocabulary initially repel the genteel older woman." She received her first Screen Actor's Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Female Supporting Actor for her performance. In 1998, she received an American Comedy Award nomination for Funniest Supporting Actress for Tamara Jenkins's cult film Slums of Beverly Hills, in which she appeared alongside Natasha Lyonne and Alan Arkin. The independent film was well received by critics and the public. The New York Times writes, "Jenkins makes the most of an especially ingratiating cast, with Ms. Tomei very charming and funny as Rita" while another critic states Tomei is "spunky and sexy, . . . more subdued than she usually is." Tomei spent several years away from high-profile roles and major motion pictures in the late 1990s, before rising again to prominence in the early 2000s. Tomei appeared in the 2000 film What Women Want with Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt, which was a commercial success, and had a supporting role in the romantic comedy Someone Like You with Hugh Jackman and Ashley Judd.
In 2001, Tomei appeared in Todd Field's Best Picture nominee In the Bedroom opposite Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson, earning several awards including a ShoWest Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2002. Variety wrote, "Tomei is winning in what is surely her most naturalistic and unaffected performance," while The New York Times writer Stephen Holden exclaimed, "Ms. Tomei's ruined, sorrowful Natalie is easily her finest screen role." In the Bedroom earned Tomei a second Academy Award nomination and her first Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Tomei also shared a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast. In 2002 she appeared in the Bollywood-inspired film The Guru and voiced the role of Bree Blackburn, the main antagonist in the animated feature film The Wild Thornberrys Movie.
During the latter part of the 1990s Tomei made several television appearances. In 1996, she made a guest appearance on the sitcom Seinfeld, playing herself in the two-part episode "The Cadillac." In the episode, George Constanza attempts to get a date with her through a friend of Elaine Benes. She also made an appearance on The Simpsons as movie star Sara Sloane, who falls in love with Ned Flanders. Former Saturday Night Live cast member Jay Mohr wrote in his book Gasping for Airtime that, as guest host in October 1994, Tomei insisted that a proposed sketch, "Good Morning Brooklyn," not be used because she did not like the idea of being stereotyped; that stand displeased the writers and performers, given the show's penchant for satirizing celebrities.
2003-present
In 2003, Tomei appeared in one of her biggest commercial hits, Anger Management. The following year, she appeared in the film Alfie based on the 1966 British film of the same name, opposite Jude Law. In 2005, she was featured in an ad campaign for Hanes with the slogan "Look who we've got our Hanes on now", featuring various other celebrities including Michael Jordan, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Damon Wayans, Matthew Perry and, on Spanish-language advertising, Aracely Arámbula and Pablo Montero. In 2006, Tomei had a recurring role on Rescue Me, playing Johnny Gavin's ex-wife Angie. She won a Gracie Allen Award for Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her work in the four episodes she appeared in. The following year she appeared in the comedy Wild Hogs alongside John Travolta, Tim Allen, William H. Macy and Martin Lawrence. The film was the 13th highest-grossing movie of 2007 ($168,273,550 domestic box office). She also starred in the Sidney Lumet-directed Before the Devil Knows You're Dead opposite co-stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke. The film was released to critical acclaim.
In 2008, Tomei played Cassidy/Pam, a struggling stripper in the Darren Aronofsky independent film The Wrestler opposite Mickey Rourke. She appeared in several nude scenes performing dance numbers in the film, on working with Tomei, director Aronofsky said, "This role shows how courageous and brave Marisa is. And ultimately she's really sexy. We knew nudity was a big part of the picture, and she wanted to be that exposed and vulnerable." Numerous critics heralded this performance as a standout in her career, The Hollywood Reporter states, "Tomei delivers one of her most arresting performances, again without any trace of vanity." Ty Burr of The Boston Globe writes, "Tomei gives a brave and scrupulously honest performance, one that's most naked when Pam has her clothes on." Variety exclaimed, "Tomei is in top, emotionally forthright form as she charts a life passage similar to Ram's." For her performance she was nominated for her first BAFTA, second Golden Globe and third Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Tomei was included at #18 on the FHM annual list of "100 Sexiest Females in the world" in 2009. The following year she appeared in two films, the first a comedy-drama, Cyrus and a cameo in the comedy film, Grown Ups. Tomei hosted the 2011 Scientific and Technical Awards, which was followed by an appearance at the 83rd Academy Awards. She starred alongside Matthew McConaughey and Ryan Phillippe in the mystery suspense film, The Lincoln Lawyer. She also appeared in Salvation Boulevard with Jennifer Connelly, Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear, which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Tomei's 2011 films included Crazy, Stupid, Love., with Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling, and Emma Stone, and the George Clooney film, The Ides of March, with Clooney, Ryan Gosling, and Paul Giamatti. She is in talks to star alongside Sarah Jessica Parker in the indie comedy, Married and Cheating. In an interview, Lady Gaga stated that she would want Tomei to portray her in a film about the singer, Tomei responded saying, "I was thrilled when I heard. I love her. I love her music. And she's a smart businesswoman. So I was so touched, really. I think it's incredible that she likes my work and that she'd think of me."
Tomei was featured in the second episode of the third season on NBC's, Who Do You Think You Are?, on February 10, 2012. In the episode, she travelled to the Tuscany region of Italy and the island of Elba to uncover the truth about the 100-year-old murder of her great-grandfather, Francesco Leopoldo Bianchi, on her mother's side of the family.
Theater
Tomei has also done substantial work in the theater, including taking lead roles on Broadway in Wait Until Dark (1998) and Oscar Wilde's Salomé (2003) alongside Al Pacino and Dianne Wiest as well as many Off-Broadway plays such as Tony Kushner's Slavs! (1994).
Personal life
Tomei is the recipient of an honorary degree from Boston University.
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