Marisa Tomei

January 21, 1:48 PMCelebrity Profile ExaminerAndy Williamson

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MARISA TOMEI

Marisa Tomei was born on December 4th, 1964 -- she is an American actress with credits from the world of film, television and the stage.  After making a name for herself on the sitcom, A Different World, she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work in the 1992 film My Cousin Vinny.

Born In Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of a trial lawyer, Gary, and an English teacher, Patricia, Marisa grew enamored of the Broadway plays to which her parents frequently took her.  In 1983, after graduating from Edward R. Murrow High School and later attending New York University (with a brief stop between at Boston University), Marisa landed a role on the CBS soap opera As The World Turns.  When she realized this stint was not just a flash in the pan, Marisa dropped out of college to work full-time as an actress.

Four years later, she left that series when she was cast opposite Lisa Bonet and Jasmine Guy in a spinoff from The Cosby Show entitled A Different World.  Her career sputtered for a bit after leaving that show, but in 1992, playing Joe Pesci’s streetwise girlfriend in the comedy My Cousin Vinny, Marisa surprised many by winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.  There was some controversy over this, as it was rumored that presenter Jack Palance had read the wrong name off the card.  To this day, Marisa is distressed by such.  She has stated in the past that: "That was very hurtful for me.  I was a young actress and it was really exciting, but there was a cloud over it.  I asked the Academy to clear it up, but they just said it would be giving it more credence than if we ignored it."  While such rumors have greatly been put to rest (the Academy insists she WAS and IS the winner), her performance is still available to watch and marvel over.  She is hysterical in this film.

While the roles that immediately followed may not have brought her the same notoriety, Marisa has never stopped working.  She has gone for great stretches without a hit, but it is always a welcome surprise when she returns.  Some of her more notable (post-Vinny) films include: Chaplin, Untamed Heart (a romantic gem), The Paper, Only You, What Women Want, In The Bedroom (for which she received her second Oscar nomination for BSA), Wild Hogs, and Before The Devil Knows Your Dead.

Some of her stage roles include, Wait Until Dark (1998), Salomé (2003) and many other off-Broadway plays.

In 2008, Marisa appeared as Cassidy (née Pam), in Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler.  She played a slighty-past-her-prime stripper opposite Mickey Roarke’s titular character.  Another BSA Oscar nomination was bestowed upon her for this role, and I for one would like to see her take it home -- that would be ironic justice for the unfair tarnishing surrounding her first win.

Up next: a starring role in the Untitled Duplass Brothers Project, and The Night Job.

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