Marisa Tomei was born on December 4, 1964, in Brooklyn, New York, to Patricia Adelaide "Addie" (Bianchi), an English teacher, and Gary A. Tomei, a lawyer. Marisa has a brother, actor Adam Tomei. Her parents are both of Italian descent, with roots in Tuscany and Sicily. As a child, Marisa's mother frequently corrected her speech so as to eliminate her heavy Brooklyn accent. As a teen, Marisa attended Edward R. Murrow High School and graduated in the class of 1982. She was one year into her college education at Boston University when she dropped out for a co-starring role on the CBS daytime drama, As the World Turns (1956). Her role on that show paved the way for her entrance into film: in 1984, she made her film debut with a bit part in Le Kid de la plage (1984). Three years later, Marisa became known for her role as "Maggie Lawton", Lisa Bonet's college roommate, on the sitcom Campus show (1987). Her real breakthrough came in 1992, when she co-starred as Joe Pesci's hilariously foul-mouthed, scene-stealing girlfriend in Mon cousin Vinny (1992), a performance that won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Later that year, she turned up briefly as a snippy "Mabel Normand" in director Richard Attenborough's biopic, Chaplin (1992), and was soon given her first starring role in Coeur sauvage (1993). A subsequent starring role -- and attempted makeover into Audrey Hepburn -- in the romantic comedy, Only You (1994), with Robert Downey Jr. proved only moderately successful. Marisa's other 1994 role as Michael Keaton's hugely pregnant wife in Le journal (1994) was well-received, although the film as a whole was not. Fortunately for Tomei, she was able to rebound the following year with a solid performance as a troubled single mother in Nick Cassavetes Décroche les étoiles (1996), which earned her a Screen Actors Guild nomination. Also in 1996, she made a famous guest appearance on the popular sitcom, Seinfeld (1989), as herself. She turned in a similarly strong work in Welcome to Sarajevo (1997) and, in 1998, did some of her best work in years as a sexually liberated, unhinged woman in Les taudis de Beverly Hills (1998). Marisa co-starred with Mel Gibson in the hugely successful romantic comedy, Ce que veulent les femmes (2000), and, during the 2002 movie award season, she proved her first Oscar win was no fluke when she was nominated a second time for the critically-acclaimed dark drama, In the Bedroom (2001).
Fresh off her second Oscar nomination, Marisa began acting in more mainstream films, but only a couple of them stuck out. She appeared in the ensemble romantic comedy, Attraction animale (2001), with Ashley Judd, Hugh Jackman, and Greg Kinnear, then in Le gourou et les femmes (2002) and the animated feature, La famille Delajungle, le film (2002). She returned to prominence in the hit comedy, Self Control (2003), with Adam Sandler, alongside Jack Nicholson and performed "The Vagina Monologues" onstage in 2004. That same year, she appeared opposite Jude Law in a remake of Irrésistible Alfie (2004). Also in 2004, she also made a guest appearance on the animated TV phenomenon, Les Simpson (1989), as "Sara Sloane", a movie star who falls in love with "Ned Flanders". In 2006, she went on to do 4 episodes for Rescue me, les héros du 11 septembre (2004). She played "Angie", the ex-wife of "Tommy Calvin" (Denis Leary)'s brother, "Johnny" (Dean Winters). The following year, she starred as a sexy bar owner in the comedy, Bande de sauvages (2007), alongside John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy. The film was a huge box-office hit, and later that year, at age 42, Marisa took on a provocative role in legendary filmmaker Sidney Lumet's melodramatic picture, 7h58 ce samedi-là (2007). Usually modest, Marisa did several nude scenes with her costars, Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman, including a racy sex scene with Hoffman. After working on War, Inc. (2008) with John Cusack, Marisa then took on another provocative role as an aging stripper in the highly-acclaimed film, The Wrestler (2008), opposite Mickey Rourke. Her great performance earned her many awards from numerous film societies for Best Supporting Actress, a third Academy Award nomination, as well as nominations for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. Many critics heralded this performance as a standout in her career.
