Star Facts
- Marisa famously tripped on the steps on her way to collect her Oscar in 1993
- She is 5' 4½" tall
- Marisa has a tattoo of the Egyptian Eye of Ra on her right foot
- She was a member of the NYC theatre group Naked Angels, alongside Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker
Marisa Tomei Quotes
You can't really be old in LA, it's kind of like a crime
Biography:
Feisty Italian-American actress Marisa was born in Brooklyn, catching the acting bug after her parents took her to see Broadway shows as a youngster. She started acting in high school and dropped out of Boston University to pursue an acting career.
Moving to LA, Marisa began with bit parts on TV, landing her breakthrough TV role in hit teen sitcom A Different World in 1987. Her big movie break came in 1992 when she stole the show as Joe Pesci’s potty-mouthed moll in the classic mob comedy My Cousin Vinny, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Marisa tended to stick to indie flicks, including the cult comedy hit Slums of Beverly Hills, throughout the 90’s. After her second Oscar nomination for her performance in 2001’s In the Bedroom alongside Sissy Spacek, she began to appear in more mainstream films like Alfie, Anger Management, and What Women Want alongside Mel Gibson.
Marisa performed in some saucy sex scenes for the first time in 2007’s Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, and was nominated for another Oscar, a BAFTA and a Golden Globe for her performance as an ageing stripper in the critically-acclaimed The Wrestler the following year.
As one of the leading indie actresses of the 90’s, Marisa had some high-profile relationships, dating Robert Downey Jr., Twin Peaks actor Dana Ashbrook and TV writer Frank Pugliese. Since 2009 she’s been seeing younger man and The OC and 24 star Logan Marshall-Green.