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Marisa Tomei Profile |
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Birth Date: December 4, 1964
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Birth Place: Brooklyn, New York, USA
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Birth Name: Marisa Tomei
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Height: 5'6"
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Biography |
Marisa Tomei was born December 4, 1964 in the Flatbush
section of Brooklyn, New York. Her birth was shortly
followed by that of her brother, Adam, and the Tomei family
moved to Manhattan, taking up a larger residence.
Marisa's mother Patricia, an English teacher, and father
Gary, a trial lawyer, were both devoted to and greatly
consumed by their professions, and frequently left their
children in the care of their grandmother, Rita. By virtue
of this arrangement, Marisa formed a strong bond with her
grandmother, the woman who eventually had a hand in
launching her acting career.
As a child, Marisa's sights were set on becoming an
archaeologist, but these ambitions were quickly dispelled by
her first trip to the theater, attending a Broadway
production of A Chorus Line. Twelve years old at the time,
Marisa was swept with the notion of becoming an actor, an
aspiration that proved more enduring than her former one.
She became involved in drama projects at her school, and her
interest hadn't waned by the time she enrolled at Edward R.
Murrow High School. Marisa's commitment to acting was a
full-time one: outside of school she sought out auditions
through the classifieds of local papers, and spent her
summers performing in plays in Golden Bridge Colony in
upstate New York. Marisa's passion was for the stage, and by
the time her high-school graduation rolled around in 1982,
she had been involved in a number of off-Broadway
productions.
At 18, Marisa left New York to attend Boston University. She
completed her freshman year with the academic lifestyle
having failed to capture her interest, and remained
determined to embark on an acting career. Although her
parents advocated that she return to Boston to complete her
degree, Marisa's grandmother Rita was especially supportive
of her endeavor, and set her granddaughter up with an agent.
Soon thereafter Marisa landed her first television role, as
a teen seductress on the daytime soap As the World Turns.
This first job lasted a year and a half, marking the end of
Marisa's academic life and the beginning of her professional
one.
Marisa's work on As the World Turns, in conjunction with
appearances on another soap, One Life to Live, paved the way
for her film debut, a bit part in 1984's The Flamingo Kid.
She continued with stage work and appeared in a bit part in
the 1985 Troma production The Toxic Avenger before returning
to the small screen in 1987, as Lisa Bonet's college
roommate in the television series, A Different World.
The Cosby Show spin-off boasted a strong following, upping
Marisa's visibility and lending a hand in winning her a
leading role in her third film, 1992's My Cousin Vinny. The
comedy was a hit, and Marisa's performance as Joe Pesci's
wisecracking fiancée was sufficiently well-received to earn
her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Marisa's Oscar victory proved a dramatic turning point in
her career, but not in the traditional sense. Few in the
entertainment industry had anticipated that she would win
the award, given her relative inexperience, and she did not
reap the rewards that most Academy Award winners enjoy.
Vicious gossip circulated suggesting that presenter Jack
Palance had misread the envelope and mistakenly given the
Oscar to Marisa, rather than its rightful owner Vanessa
Redgrave for her performance in Howard's End. Although these
rumors were not grounded in fact, they seemed to have a
bearing on Marisa's career, sending it into a slump that
many predicted would end in her disappearance from the
industry altogether.
Marisa did not disappear from the industry, nor did she stop
working. Nevertheless, a successful follow-up to My Cousin
Vinny eluded her, and her participation in such doomed
projects as 1992's Chaplin, 1994's Untamed Heart and The
Paper, and 1995's The Perez Family and Four Rooms failed to
revive her career (although she was awarded the MTV Movie
Award for Best On-screen Kiss for her smooch session with
Christian Slater in Untamed Heart).
Marisa earned a Screen Actors Guild Nomination for Best
Supporting Actress for her performance in 1996's Unhook the
Stars, and her work in 1997's Welcome to Sarajevo was also
critically applauded, but the films themselves went largely
unnoticed. Despite the four-year passage since her victory,
Marisa continued to be plagued by public myths of an "Oscar
Curse," one that was also associated with actresses Geena
Davis and Mira Sorvino.
Marisa's misfortune seemed to follow her from screen to
stage, as she took on the lead role in Quentin Tarantino's
1998 lambasted Broadway production, Wait Until Dark. In
spite of this additional failure, Marisa persisted, and the
upswing in her career came the same year, from an unexpected
source. It was not a commercial hit, but rather the 1998
independent movie Slums of Beverly Hills that launched
Marisa back into the public eye, as her performance in the
film garnered critical acclaim.
Success bred further success, and roles in 2000's The
Watcher and the enormously successful romantic comedy What
Women Want re-established Marisa as a fixture in the
entertainment business. Alongside appearances in Happy
Accidents and Someone Like You, Marisa had a starring role
in the dark drama, In the Bedroom in 2001. Her portrayal of
a single mother was met with a second Academy Award
nomination, proving that the first was no fluke and
endearing her to a fickle Hollywood community.
After a brief romance with Twin Peaks cast member Dana
Ashbrook, Marisa has apparently been seeing New York
playwright Frank Pugliese on and off since the mid-'90s. She
is slated to appear in a number of upcoming movies,
including Anger Management with Adam Sandler, and alongside
Heather Graham in The Guru. |
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Other
Information |
Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1991" in
John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 43.
Attended Boston University.
Attended Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, New York.
Sister of actor Adam Tomei.
Has a tattoo of the Egyptian Eye of Ra (protection, good
luck abundance) on her right foot.
In 2003, she played the title role in a revival of Oscar
Wilde's "Salome" in an Actors Workshop production, directed
by Estelle Parsons, on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore
Theatre; co-stars included Al Pacino, Dianne Wiest, and
David Strathairn.
She is of Italian descent
Before the 1993 Oscar ceremony, she told "Entertainment
Tonight" (1981) that her biggest fear was that she would
trip on the steps on her way to the stage. She did.
Revealed to Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" (1996) that she
sometimes travels under an Italian passport. (Oct 2004)
Has the same birthday as Tyra Banks, Lindsay Felton and Jeff
Bridges.
No relation to Concetta Tomei.
Born on the same day as Chelsea Noble.
Has dual citizenship between America and Italy. She
sometimes travels under the Italian passport.
Her mother was an English teacher at Cavallaro Junior High
School in Brooklyn, New York.
Attended Mark Twain JHS for the Gifted & Talented |
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