Short answers, pulled from the story.
Tomei won the 1993 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her comedic performance as Mona Lisa Vito in My Cousin Vinny (1992), prevailing over Miranda Richardson, Joan Plowright, Vanessa Redgrave, and Judy Davis. Critics praised her timing and the specificity she brought to a character who was both a Brooklyn outsider and an expert auto mechanic.
The rumor was false. The Academy officially denied it, and a Price Waterhouse accountant explained that a protocol existed: if a presenter misspoke, an accountant would step onstage to correct the error. In 2015, The Hollywood Reporter polled hundreds of Academy members who confirmed they would still give the award to Tomei.
Marisa Tomei received three Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress: for My Cousin Vinny (1992), In the Bedroom (2001), and The Wrestler (2008). She won for My Cousin Vinny.
Tomei portrayed Aunt May Parker in five Marvel Cinematic Universe films: Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).
Tomei was born on the 4th of December, 1964, in Brooklyn, New York. She grew up in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn. Both her parents are of Italian descent; her father's ancestors came from Tuscany, Calabria, and Campania, and her mother's from Tuscany and Sicily.
Tomei was a founding member of the Naked Angels Theater Company and made her off-Broadway debut in Daughters in 1987, winning the Theatre World Award. She made her Broadway debut in Wait Until Dark in 1998 opposite Quentin Tarantino. Her stage work earned her a Drama Desk Award nomination for Top Girls (2008) and a special Drama Desk Award for The Realistic Joneses (2014).