On December 4, 1964, the world greeted a new star born Marisa Tomei whose subsequent career on Broadway, television and movies helped her become my favorite actress from Brooklyn, New York.
The daughter of an English teacher and trial lawyer, for the past three decades she earned her way into my heart as one of the great American actresses. As a result, Marisa is now featured in a script I have written that is waiting for her to request it.
How could you not love a lady who has won an Oscar while competing against three English super stars, appeared on Broadway, and helped promote the Independent film industry.
Did I mention Marisa has not been involved in the typical Hollywood marriage disasters, she is still single? Okay, she might have a boyfriend but there is still hope for us.
The depth and breadth of of her roles is stunning, and her willingness to take risks with new projects sets her apart from many other actresses. The following is an A&E biography with highlights of her career.
So happy birthday Marisa, I'll be waiting for your call.
Oscar-winning actress Marisa Tomei has starred in a number of successful films, including My Cousin Vinny, In the Bedroom and The Wrestler.
Synopsis
Born in Brooklyn in 1964, Marisa Tomei got her start acting on TV in shows like As the World Turns and A Different World. She went on to become a highly successful film actress, starring in projects like My Cousin Vinny, for which she earned an Academy Award, In the Bedroom and The Wrestler.
Early Career
Actress Marisa Tomei was born on December 4, 1964 in Brooklyn , New York Los Angeles
In 1987, she landed a role as a roommate of Lisa Bonet's character during the first season of A Different World, a popular spinoff of The Cosby Show.
After her next major film, Oscar (1991), starring Sylvester Stallone, bombed, Tomei gave what appeared to be a bona fide star-making performance in the 1992 comedy My Cousin Vinny, costarring Joe Pesci and The Karate Kid's Ralph Macchio. Critics agreed that Tomei's sharp comedic performance as Mona Lisa Vito, the wisecracking auto mechanic who falls in love with Pesci's Vinny, merited good reviews and even the Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress she received.
When the 27-year-old Marisa Tomei's name was read aloud on Oscar night as the winner, however (she beat out four well respected British actresses: Judy Davis, Joan Plowright, Miranda Richardson and Vanessa Redgrave), the shock was almost universal, and nasty rumors persisted that the award's presenter, the elderly Jack Palance, had read the wrong name.
Tomei's Oscar win failed to produce the kind of career boost usually expected, as she went on to star in a number of films that didn't do justice to her talents and barely made it onto the radar screen at the box office. She gave a good performance as the silent screen actress Mabel Normand in Chaplin (1992), starring Robert Downey Jr., but her first project as a romantic lead in the weepy romance Untamed Heart (1993), costarring Christian Slater, was a critical and commercial disappointment. Tomei next appeared opposite Michael Keaton in The Paper and reteamed with Robert Downey Jr. in Only You (both 1994).
Indie Films
After costarring with veteran actresses Anjelica Huston (1995's The Perez Family) and Gena Rowlands (1996's Unhook the Stars), she earned her best reviews since My Cousin Vinny for the eccentric comedy Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), in which she played the flaky cousin of the main character, a precocious teenage girl played by Natasha Lyonne. Also in 1998, Tomei returned to the small screen for the Showtime feature My Own Country (also featuring her younger brother Adam) and the CBS miniseries Erich Segal's Only Love, and made her first appearance on Broadway in a revival of Wait Until Dark, with the director and actor Quentin Tarantino.
Tomei's fortunes improved with a string of big-screen roles in 2000, beginning with the small independent film Happy Accidents, costarring Vincent D'Onofrio, which screened at Sundance in 2001. She also costarred opposite Keanu Reeves and James Spader in the more mainstream thriller The Watcher, and had a featured role in the hit comedy What Women Want, starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt.
In early 2001, she appeared as the sidekick of Ashley Judd's character in the romantic comedy Someone Like You. That same year, Tomei emerged as a serious dramatic actress with an acclaimed performance in In the Bedroom, playing a mother of two whose estranged husband kills her younger lover. Tomei's affecting supporting performance earned her rave reviews, and a second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Continued Success
The next several years saw Tomei in many lighthearted films, including a voiceover role in the children's animated feature The Wild Thornberrys Movie (2002), and lead roles in The Guru (2002) and the Adam Sandler vehicle Anger Management (2003).
Tomei also proved her mettle in the film remake of the 1966 romantic comedy, Alfie (2004), as well as the indie feature Factotum (2005).
After a stint on the small screen in Dennis Leary's firefighter drama, Rescue Me, and the comedy The Rich Inner Life of Penelope Cloud, Tomei returned to feature films. Her role opposite Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler (2008) earned her Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. Then in 2010, Tomei starred in the indie comedy Cyrus, with co-stars John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill. The film received a positive response from critics.
'Core and Curves'
In 2010, Tomei released a fitness DVD program—Marisa Tomei: Core and Curves. She has also continued her film work with roles in dramas like The Lincoln Lawyer and The Ides of March, both from 2011, and comedies like Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) and Parental Guidance (2012), the latter film starring icons Bette Midler and Billy Crystal.
Since 2008 Tomei has been linked to actor Logan Marshall-Green.
"Marisa Tomei." Bio. AE Television Networks, 2014. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.
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