Marisa Tomei was born December 4, 1964 in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York. Her birth was shortly followed by that of her brother, Adam, and the Tomei family moved to Manhattan, taking up a larger residence.

Marisa’s mother Patricia, an English teacher, and father Gary, a trial lawyer, were both devoted to and greatly consumed by their professions, and frequently left their children in the care of their grandmother, Rita. By virtue of this arrangement, Marisa formed a stron..marisa-tomei