Appearing in over several films in the past fifteen years, her most commercially successful films to date are What Women Want (2000), Anger Management (2003), and Wild Hogs (2007).She received critical acclaim for her performances in Unhook the Stars (1996), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) and received subsequent Academy Award nominations for her performances in In the Bedroom (2001) and The Wrestler (2008).
Contents
* 1 Life and career
o 1.1 1964-1983: Early life and career beginnings
o 1.2 1984-2002: Breakthrough and critical success
o 1.3 2003-present
o 1.4 Theatre
o 1.5 Personal life
* 2 Filmography
* 3 References
* 4 External links
Life and career
1964-1983: Early life and career beginnings
Tomei, an Italian American, was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Patricia "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. Tomei grew up in the Midwood neighborhood of BrooklynWhile there, she became captivated by the Broadway shows that her theater-loving parents took her to and became drawn to acting as a career. At Andries Hudde Junior High School, she played the part of Hedy LaRue in a school production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. She graduated from Edward R. Murrow High School and she attended Boston University for a year, transferring to New York University in 1983 after landing a role in the soap opera As The World Turns. Soon afterward, she dropped out of college as her career in acting started to take off.
1984-2002: Breakthrough and critical success
Tomei followed up As the World Turns, in 1986, with a role on the sitcom A Different World as Maggie Lauten during the first season. Her film debut was a minor role in the 1984 comedy film, The Flamingo Kid with Matt Dillon. Following several small films, her breakthrough comedic performance came in My Cousin Vinny (1992), where she received critical praise for her performance. Critic Vincent Canby exclaimed, "Ms. Tomei gives every indication of being a fine comedian, whether towering over Mr. Pesci and trying to look small, or arguing about a leaky faucet in terms that demonstrate her knowledge of plumbing. Mona Lisa is also a first-rate auto mechanic, which comes in handy in the untying of the knotted story." For her performance, Tomei was named Best Supporting Actress at the 1993 Academy Awards, prevailing over Miranda Richardson, Joan Plowright, Vanessa Redgrave and Judy Davis. American film critic Rex Reed created controversy (and a minor Hollywood myth) when he suggested that Jack Palance had announced the wrong name after opening the envelope. While this has been repeatedly disproved – even the Academy has officially denied it – Tomei has called the story "extremely hurtful". A Price Waterhouse accountant explains if had such an event had occurred, "we have an agreement with the Academy that one of us would step on stage, introduce ourselves, and say the presenter misspoke.
After her Oscar win, she appeared as silent film star, Mabel Normand in the film Chaplin with her then boyfriend, Robert Downey Jr. as the title character. The following year she starred in the romantic drama, Untamed Heart with Christian Slater and appeared alongside Downey Jr. again in the romantic comedy, Only You. She received her first Screen Actor's Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Female Supporting Actor for Nick Cassavetes's Unhook the Stars alongside Gena Rowlands. On Tomei's performance, The New York Times wrote, "Ms. Tomei is equally fine as Mildred's younger, hot-tempered neighbor, whose raw working-class feistiness and bluntly profane vocabulary initially repel the genteel older woman. She appeared in several films throughout the following years and received an American Comedy Award nomination for Funniest Supporting Actress for Tamara Jenkins's Slums of Beverly Hills. However, she spent several years away from high-profile roles and major motion pictures in the later 90's before rising again to prominence. Tomei later appeared in the 2000 film, What Women Want with Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt which was a commercial success and had a supporting role in the romantic comedy, Someone Like You. In 2001, Tomei appeared in the critically acclaimed film, In the Bedroom with Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek, earning the film's actors and Tomei several awards including a ShoWest Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2002. Variety writes, "Tomei is winning in what is surely her most naturalistic and unaffected performance. In the Bedroom earned Tomei a second Academy Award nomination and her first Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Throughout the later part of the decade Tomei made several television appearances, in 1996 she made a guest appearance on the sitcom Seinfeld, playing herself in the two-part episode "The Cadillac". In this episode, George attempts to get a date with Tomei through a friend of Elaine. She has also made an appearance on The Simpsons as movie star Sara Sloane, who falls in love with Ned Flanders. Former Saturday Night Live cast member Jay Mohr wrote in his book Gasping for Airtime that, as guest host in October 1994, Tomei insisted that a proposed sketch about another actress not be used because she didn't like the idea of making fun of her, which displeased the writers and performers, given the show's penchant for satirizing celebrities. 2002 she appeared in the Bollywood inspired-film The Guru and voiced the role of Bree Blackburn, the main antagonist in the animated feature film The Wild Thornberrys Movie.
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