Marisa Tomei was born in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York, on December 4,1964 to a a trial lawyer, and an English teacher.

As her parents both were very devoted to their professions, she then was raised under the nurture of her grandmother, Rita Tomei, when they all moved to Manhattan shortly after the arrival of her brother Adam in 1967.

Her major stage debut was in the play 'Daughters', which won her a Theatre World Award. Her next accomplishment was in the Off-Broadway play 'Beirut', which won her a Dramalogue Award. She starred in the Afterschool Special, "Supermom's Daughter", which won an Emmy Award.

The star even struck harder during the latter half of the era as she continuously garnered critical acclaim through her dramatic enactments in films like “Unhook the Stars” (1996) and “Welcome to Sarajevo” (1997) with the former scoring her an Actors nomination in Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role category by 1997.

Marisa Tomei, in what was only her second major film role, received an Academy Awardâ for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the hit comedy My Cousin Vinny. Possessing the ability to play both dramatic and comedic roles with astonishing reality, Tomei recently received a Best Supporting Actress Oscarâ nomination for In The Bedroom.

Onstage, MarisaTomei was recently seen in Nobel Prize-winning playwright Dario Fo’s We Won’t Pay! We Won’t Pay! Her previous theatre credits include Clifford Odets’ Waiting for Lefty and Rocket to the Moon, both directed by Joanne Woodward, as well as the premiere of Tony Kushner’s SLAVS at the New York Public Theater Workshop