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Marisa Tomei (born December 4, 1964) is an Academy Award-winning American film and stage actress.

Early years

Tomei was born and raised in Brooklyn to parents Gary and Patricia Tomei, in an Italian-American family. (She has dual citizenship, sometimes traveling under the Italian passport.) While growing up, she was captivated by the Broadway shows her theater-loving parents took her to, and became drawn to acting as a career for herself. After graduating from Edward R. Murrow High School, she went on to briefly attend Boston University for a year, soon transferring to New York University in 1983 after landing a role in the soap opera As the World Turns. She would soon after drop out of school altogether as her career began to take off.

Career

Tomei followed up As the World Turns in 1987 with a role on the sitcom A Different World. Her breakthrough performance came in My Cousin Vinny (1992) for which she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. She received a second Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for In the Bedroom (2001).

Tomei has also done substantial work in the theater world, including lead roles on Broadway in Wait Until Dark (1998) and Salomé (2003), and many Off-Broadway plays.

In 1996, Tomei made a guest appearance on the sitcom Seinfeld, playing herself in "The Cadillac, Part 1 and 2." She also made an appearance on The Simpsons, as a movie star who falls in love with Ned Flanders.

In 2006, Tomei had a recurring role on the TV series Rescue Me, playing Johnny's ex-wife Angie.

Oscar "mistake" myth

There is an urban legend that Tomei's Best Supporting Actress Oscar for My Cousin Vinny should have gone to one of the four other nominees in 1993 (Miranda Richardson, Joan Plowright, Judy Davis or Vanessa Redgrave). The rumor claims that:

During the 'Oscar' ceremony, Jack Palance announced Tomei as best supporting actress winner, while actually there was another name on his note. The mistake was considered too embarrassing to correct.

This rumor was debunked by Snopes.http://www.snopes.com - Oscar My Error. As the Academy has explained many times, two officials from the accounting firm of Price Waterhouse (the official tabulators of the Academy Award ballots) have been stationed in the wings at every Academy Awards ceremony since 1953 just in case such a situation should arise. If a wrong name were ever read, one of the officials would immediately step up to the podium and announce the correct winner.

Filmography

References

External links

• Marisa Tomei at episodeworld.com
• Marisa Tomei fansite with the biggest collection of photos (5,519)

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