Marisa Tomei extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Marisa Tomei
Marisa Tomei at the premiere for the film War, Inc., April 2008
Born	December 4, 1964 (1964-12-04) (age 45) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1983–present

Marisa Tomei (born December 4, 1964) is an American stage, film and television actress. Tomei first came to prominence as a supporting cast member on The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World in 1987.

She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in My Cousin Vinny (1992). She received subsequent nominations for her performances in In the Bedroom (2001) and The Wrestler (2008).

Her most commercially successful films to date are What Women Want (2000), Anger Management (2003), and Wild Hogs (2007).¹ She received critical acclaim for her performances in Unhook the Stars (1996), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) and The Wrestler (2008).²

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Theatre 4 Personal life 5 Filmography 6 References 7 External links

Early life

Tomei, an Italian American,³⁴ was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Patricia "Addie," an English teacher, and Gary A. Tomei, a trial lawyer.⁵ She has a younger brother, actor Adam Tomei, and was partly raised by her paternal grandparents, Rita and Romeo Tomei.⁶ Tomei grew up in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn.⁷ 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. After graduating from Edward R. Murrow High School, she attended Boston University for a year, transferring to New York University in 1983 after landing a role in the soap opera As The World Turns. Soon afterward, she dropped out of school as her career began achieving success.

Career

Tomei followed up As the World Turns, in 1987, with a role on the sitcom A Different World. Her breakthrough comedic performance⁸ came in My Cousin Vinny (1992), for which she 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)⁹¹⁰¹¹ when he suggested that Jack Palance had announced the wrong name after opening the envelope.¹²¹³ While this has been repeatedly disproved¹⁴¹⁵ - even the Academy has officially denied it¹⁶ - Tomei has called the story "extremely hurtful"¹⁷.

After her Oscar win, she received a Screen Actor's Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Female Supporting Actor for Nick Cassavetes's Unhook the Stars. Next, Tomei received an American Comedy Award nomination for Funniest Supporting Actress for Tamara Jenkins's Slums of Beverly Hills. However, she spent several years away from high-profile roles and major motion pictures before rising again to prominence¹⁸. Next she was nominated for a Satellite Award, as Best Supporting Actress for What Women Want. She would go on to receive further critical acclaim and respect for her performances in Alfie and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and received Academy Award nominations for In the Bedroom and The Wrestler.

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 about another actress not be used because she didn't like the idea of making fun of her, which displeased the writers and performers, given the show's penchant for satirizing celebrities.¹⁹

In 1996, Tomei made a guest appearance on the sitcom Seinfeld, playing herself in the two-part episode "The Cadillac". In this episode, George attempts to get a date with Tomei through a friend of Elaine. She has also made an appearance on The Simpsons as movie star Sara Sloane, who falls in love with Ned Flanders.

She received her first Golden Globe Award and her second Academy Award (Best Supporting Actress) nominations for her work in Todd Field's In The Bedroom (2001).

In 2003, Tomei appeared in the hit Anger Management with Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson. 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 Arambula and Pablo Montero.

In 2006, Tomei had a recurring role on the TV series 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.

In 2007, she appeared in the comedy Wild Hogs alongside John Travolta, Tim Allen, William H. Macy and Martin Lawrence. The film was a blockbuster hit and was one of the highest-grossing movies of 2007. She also starred in the Sidney Lumet-directed Before the Devil Knows You're Dead opposite co-stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke. This role received extra attention because Tomei appeared in nude love scenes with both Hoffman and Hawke. In 2008, Tomei performed nude dance routines in the independent film The Wrestler opposite Mickey Rourke.²⁰ She was nominated for a BAFTA, Golden Globe and Academy Award for this performance. Numerous critics heralded this performance as a standout in her career.

Tomei was included at #18 on the FHM annual list of "100 Sexiest Females in the world" in 2009.²¹

Theatre

Tomei has also done substantial work in the theater, including taking lead roles on Broadway in Wait Until Dark (1998) and Salomé (2003), and many Off-Broadway plays.

Personal life

In the early 1990s, Tomei dated Robert Downey, Jr. (her co-star in Chaplin and Only You).²² In 1999, she dated actor Dana Ashbrook²²²³ and had a relationship with playwright Frank Pugliese, living with him in Greenwich Village.²²²⁴

Tomei was the recipient of an honorary degree from Boston University.²⁵

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1984	The Flamingo Kid	Mandy
1985	The Toxic Avenger	Health Club Girl	uncredited26
1986	Playing for Keeps	Tracy
1991	Oscar	Lisa Provolone
	Zandalee	Remy
1992	My Cousin Vinny	Mona Lisa Vito	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
	Equinox	Rosie Rivers
	Chaplin	Mabel Normand
1993	Untamed Heart	Caroline	MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss shared with Christian Slater
1994	The Paper	Martha Hackett
	Only You	Faith Corvatch
1995	The Perez Family	Dorita Evita Perez
	Four Rooms	Margaret
1996	Unhook the Stars	Monica Warren	Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Supporting Female Actor - Motion Picture
1997	A Brother's Kiss	Missy
	Welcome to Sarajevo	Nina
1998	Slums of Beverly Hills	Rita Abromowitz
2000	Happy Accidents	Ruby Weaver
	The Watcher	Dr. Polly Beilman
	What Women Want	Lola	Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
	King of the Jungle	Det. Costello
	Dirk and Betty	Paris
2001	In the Bedroom	Natalie Strout	Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Drama Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Cast - Motion Picture
	Someone Like You	Liz
2002	The Wild Thornberrys Movie	Bree Blackburn	voice
	Just a Kiss	Paula
	The Guru	Lexi
2003	Anger Management	Linda
2004	Alfie	Julie
2005	Loverboy	Sybil
	Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School	Meredith Morrison
	Factotum	Laura
2006	Danika	Danika
	Rescue Me	Angie
2007	Grace Is Gone	Woman at Pool
	Wild Hogs	Maggie
	Before the Devil Knows You're Dead	Gina Hanson	Gotham Award for Best Cast Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
2008	War, Inc.	Natalie Hegalhuzen
	The Wrestler	Cassidy/Pam	Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress Hollywood Film Festival Award for Supporting Actress of the Year Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
2010	Cyrus	Molly

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Marisa Tomei

• Marisa Tomei at the Internet Movie Database
• Marisa Tomei at TV.com
• Marisa Tomei at the Internet Broadway Database
• Marisa Tomei at the Internet Off-Broadway Database

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Persondata
NAME	Tomei, Marisa
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Actress
DATE OF BIRTH	December 4, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH	Brooklyn, New York, , U.S.
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH