Marisa began her career with a bit part in The Flamingo Kid with Matt Dillon. Her one line-"You're so drunk"-convinced her to try acting full-time. She dropped out of college and found work in daytime soaps and as Lisa Bonet's roommate in A Different World. Her first break, if you can call it that, came as Sylvester Stallone's daughter in the ill-conceived Oscar. article continued below.....

Though this role could have been the end of her career, Tomei rebounded nicely with her portrayal of Mona Lisa Vito, Joe Pesci's gum-popping, funny fiancée in the 1992 sleeper My Cousin Vinny. The part earned her an Academy Award (although wild rumors circulated through Hollywood that presenter Jack Palance actually read the wrong name). Tomei lived up to her sudden stardom in Untamed Heart, her first lead role, but recent efforts to climb higher (The Paper and Only You) have faltered on untamed scripts.

The 1996 film Unhook the Stars fortunately provided Tomei with a solid script to sink her teeth into and an excellent co-star in the person of Gena Rowlands, and she delivered solid supporting turns in 1997's harrowing war-correspondent film Welcome to Sarajevo and 1998's family comedy Slums of Beverly Hills.

• Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1991" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 43.
• Attended Boston University.
• Attended Edward R. Murrow High School, Brooklyn, New York.
• (1999) Dating actor Dana Ashbrook.
• Sister of actor Adam Tomei.