Marisa Tomei is an American stage, film and television actress. Following her work on As The World Turns, Tomei came to prominence as a supporting cast member on The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World in 1987. After appearing in a few films, her breakthrough came in 1992 with the comedy My Cousin Vinny, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Appearing in many films over the past fifteen years, her most commercially successful films to date are What Women Want , Anger Management , and Wild Hogs . She received critical acclaim for her performances in Unhook the... Stars , Slums of Beverly Hills , Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and received subsequent Academy Award nominations for her performances in In the Bedroom and The Wrestler . Tomei, an Italian American, was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Patricia Adelaide "Addie" , an English teacher, and Gary A. Tomei, a trial lawyer. She has a younger brother, actor Adam Tomei, and was partly raised by her paternal grandparents, Rita and Romeo Tomei.
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