Marisa Tomei

American actress

Written by Patricia Bauer

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Quick Facts

Born:: December 4, 1964, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.

Birth Date:: December 4, 1964

Awards And Honors:: Academy Award (1993); Academy Award (1993): Actress in a Supporting Role

Movies/Tv Shows (Acted In):: "The King of Staten Island" (2020); "Human Capital" (2019); "Spider-Man: Far from Home" (2019); "Frankie" (2019); "Avengers: Endgame" (2019); "I Hate Kids" (2019); "Dark Was the Night" (2018); "The First Purge" (2018); "The Handmaid's Tale" (2018); "After Everything" (2018); "Spider-Man: Homecoming" (2017); "Captain America: Civil War" (2016); "Empire" (2015); "The Big Short" (2015); "Love the Coopers" (2015); "Trainwreck" (2015); "Spare Parts" (2015); "The Rewrite" (2014); "Loitering with Intent" (2014); "Love Is Strange" (2014); "Parental Guidance" (2012); "Inescapable" (2012); "The Ides of March" (2011); "Crazy, Stupid, Love." (2011); "The Lincoln Lawyer" (2011); "Salvation Boulevard" (2011); "Cyrus" (2010); "The Wrestler" (2008); "War, Inc." (2008); "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (2007); "Wild Hogs" (2007); "Grace Is Gone" (2007); "Rescue Me" (2006); "Danika" (2006); "Factotum" (2005); "Loverboy" (2005); "Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School" (2005); "Alfie" (2004); "Game Over" (2004); "Anger Management" (2003); "The Simpsons" (2003); "The Wild Thornberrys Movie" (2002); "The Guru" (2002); "Just a Kiss" (2002); "Someone Like You..." (2001); "In the Bedroom" (2001); "Dirk and Betty" (2000); "What Women Want" (2000); "King of the Jungle" (2000); "The Watcher" (2000); "Happy Accidents" (2000); "Slums of Beverly Hills" (1998); "Welcome to Sarajevo" (1997); "A Brother's Kiss" (1997); "Unhook the Stars" (1996); "Four Rooms" (1995); "The Perez Family" (1995); "Only You" (1994); "The Paper" (1994); "Untamed Heart" (1993); "Chaplin" (1992); "Equinox" (1992); "My Cousin Vinny" (1992); "Zandalee" (1991); "Oscar" (1991); "A Different World" (1987–1988); "Leg Work" (1987); "ABC Afterschool Specials" (1987); "Playing for Keeps" (1986); "As the World Turns" (1984); "The Flamingo Kid" (1984)

See all related content

Marisa Tomei (born December 4, 1964, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.) is an American actress who won the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her scene-stealing performance as the brassy girlfriend of the novice lawyer played by Joe Pesci in the comedy My Cousin Vinny (1992).

Tomei was a student at Boston University when she was cast in the part of a teenager in the soap opera As the World Turns (1984). She made her movie debut in a bit part in Garry Marshall’s social comedy The Flamingo Kid (1984). She also worked in theatre in New York City. Tomei portrayed the college roommate of the character played by Lisa Bonet in the first season (1987–88) of the television sitcom A Different World, a spinoff of The Cosby Show, and she had small parts in two minor movies before being cast in My Cousin Vinny.

Tomei’s Oscar win did not immediately propel her into top-rated movies. She portrayed Mabel Normand in the biopic Chaplin (1992), starred opposite Christian Slater in the romance Untamed Heart (1993), and played the wife of a newspaper editor in Ron Howard’s The Paper (1994). Her other movies included Unhook the Stars (1996; with Gena Rowlands) and the comedy Slums of Beverly Hills (1998). She appeared on Broadway in 1998 in Wait Until Dark. Tomei received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress for the drama In the Bedroom (2001) but followed that with a series of forgettable comedies, among them the Adam Sandler vehicle Anger Management (2003).

Empty movie theater and blank screen (theatre, motion pictures, cinema).

Britannica Quiz

Oscar-Worthy Movie Trivia

Tomei won notice for her performance in Sidney Lumet’s Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007), and she earned a third Oscar nomination for her role as a stripper in Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler (2008). Her later films included The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011), and The Big Short (2015). Tomei had a recurring part in 2015 in the TV series Empire, and she played Peter Parker’s guardian, Aunt May, in such box-office hits as Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). In 2020 she appeared in Judd Apatow’s dramedy The King of Staten Island.

During this time Tomei occasionally appeared on the stage, and her credits included the 2019 Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’s The Rose Tattoo.

Pat Bauer The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica