She shocked the industry with her 1993 Oscar win on her first time out, and has been in a fair share of acclaimed film material ever since.
But like most women in Hollywood, accomplished actress Marisa Tomei has felt the constraints of sexism and typecasting in the business, and is opening up about her regrets in a new interview with Collider.
The piece comes at the same time as the release of Judd Apatow’s latest film The King Of Staten Island, starring Tomei, 55, as the mother of Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson.
Like most women in Hollywood: Actress Marisa Tomei has felt the constraints of typecasting in the business, and is opening up about her regrets; seen here with Pete Davidson in their new film King Of Staten Island
‘I really regret starting down this road and I really regret starting to do that,’ Marisa said of shifting to roles in which she plays the mom.
‘I was, you know, talked into it – not [specifically for this movie], but I mean just that change — and I really always felt like, “Oh, I could play a lot of things.”
‘Honestly, [playing a mom is] probably more of a stretch than other things,’ she continued. ‘But, it’s — yeah, I guess I said it all.’
Marisa, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 1992’s My Cousin Vinny in which she played a wise-cracking Italian girlfriend who also happened to be a car expert, has played a surprising breadth of different roles throughout her career, and has also picked up two more Academy Award nods along the way.
Versatile and stunning actress: ‘I really regret starting down this road and I really regret starting to do that,’ Marisa said of shifting to roles in which she plays the mom; seen in 2019
Legend: Marisa won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 1992’s My Cousin Vinny in which she played Joe Pesci’s wise-cracking Italian girlfriend who also happened to be a car expert
But still, the Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead star has a hunger to continue evolving as an actor.
‘I think every actor and actress has a lot of dimensions to them and if the scope of what is being written and being made is narrow, and you want to keep working, you do what you can,’ Tomei said.
‘I mean, I do. I tried it,’ she added, of playing the mother – which she most notably did in 2010, as mom to Jonah Hill’s titular character in Cyrus. ‘It was maybe not the right road, but you know, I do try to make the most of it.’
Prolific and accomplished: Tomei has played a surprising breadth of different roles throughout her career, and has also picked up two more Academy Award nods along the way; one was for her role opposite Mickey Rourke in 2008’s The Wrestler (pictured)
She wants to be the femme fatale: When asked what roles she’d yet like to play, the What Women Want star says the possibilities are endless; seen here opposite Mel Gibson in that 2000 film
And when asked what roles she’d yet like to play, the What Women Want star says the possibilities are endless.
‘I mean, even genres that I would love to be in, you know? The femme fatale, and in a noir. I still think there are other aspects of even romantic comedies. I really love them, but you know really at a screwball level. There’s so many, many — the breadth of as much as women are, there’s so many roles.’
Tomei’s new film King Of Staten Island, out on demand on Friday, is already getting very positive buzz – with a healthy 74 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Hidden gem: One of Marisa’s best and most overlooked performances is in the 2007 crime film Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead, which was directed by Sidney Lumet and packs Oscar-level performances from Tomei, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke
Hollywood smile: Tomei’s new film King Of Staten Island, out on demand on Friday, is already getting very positive buzz with a healthy 74 percent on Rotten Tomatoes