BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) ROOTS
Brooklyn born, Tomei had a normal childhood. As a kid she saw some Broadway shows and was taken in. She got into acting when she was young and made it apart of her life as soon as she was able. In school she performed in plays and never let up. When she was a young woman she had some time on As the World Turns and then had success on A Different World.
(THREE) OSCAR WINNER… LIKE IT OR NOT!
In 92 she blew up huge with her performance in My Cousin Vinny. She got critical acclaim and tons of attention with this one. So much that she won the Oscar in 93 for Supporting Actress. A douchebag film critic started the rumor that Jack Palance announced the wrong name when he opened the envelope. This would be proven wrong, discredited, and would fade away but the damage was still done. It questioned this awesome actress’s credibility and Tomei said it was “extremely hurtful”. She’s the winner and I think she’ll win more.
(TWO) VARIETY
After the Oscar should have coasted and became a talk show host or something. She didn’t. She took on tons of cool roles in Chaplin, Untamed Heart, Only You, Slums of Beverly Hills, In the Bedroom, Anger Management, The Wrestler, Cyrus, and about a million more. She’s done TV, Broadway, and just about anything and everything. She doesn’t just show up once every few years, pretend to be humble, and take all the trophies home. She is a performer.
(ONE) UNDERRATED
She is easily one of the most underrated actresses of all time. Yeah, she got her fair share of awards and has been in some great movies but for some reason she’s not held in the same discussions as a Julia Roberts or a Meryl Streep. On the level of those two huge names, I firmly place her in the middle. The cool thing about her is that she doesn’t do the same movies over and over again. She takes off kilter roles, she takes chances, and she puts her all into everything I’ve seen her in. If you don’t adore Marisa Tomei then you’re incapable of the action that is adoring.
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