Marisa Tomei: Natural Beauty On Screen and Off

Marisa Tomei is the anti-movie star.

Most stars tell me their beauty secrets. She's doing something while we talk that needs the help of a few beauty secrets.

I catch up with her in her New York apartment where she's up to her elbows in sudsy water. She has to stop washing dishes for a moment to do this phone interview.

Yes, Marisa Tomei does her own housework.

"I guess it's the maid's year off," jokes Tomei. "When we finish with this call, I'll be busy doing laundry. It's actually very relaxing."

When she's not doing chores, Marisa does things like star opposite George Clooney as a reporter in the critically acclaimed new political film opening Friday called "The Ides of March."

BEAUTY SECRETS

As for beauty secrets, Tomei likes to keep it simple. She shuns coffee for something that's a little easier on her system. "You can't go wrong with a cup of hot water with lemon."

"It's about cleansing," she says. "And I'm not someone who needs that jolt."

She says that berries keep her healthy and are a sweet snack instead of something sugary and she uses olive oil in moderation as a healthy fat. She says a little protein for breakfast like an egg is her daily start. And she also snacks on protein.

To keep her amazingly fit figure, she relies on dance classes. "It's a great way to de-stress and workout at the same time," she says.

It's also a nice way for her to honor her past. "I only know how to ballroom dance because my father taught me," she says.

HER PAST

Born in Brooklyn to an English teacher mother and lawyer father, Tomei was always fascinated by Hollywood. She was always a bit star struck, but not in the usual way.

"I never had posters of actors on my wall. That just wasn't my thing," she says.

"The only autograph I ever wrote away for and got was Gene Kelly's. I still have it on my desk. Framed," she says. "I was 12 when I got it and I was just obsessed with 'Singing in the Rain' and 'An American in Paris.'"

Tomei left Boston University when she nabbed a role on the TV soap opera "As the World Turns" and then did a role as Lisa Bonet's best friend on the TV series "A Different World" (1987).

She won an Oscar in 1992 for playing whining Mona Lisa Vito in "My Cousin Vinny" opposite Joe Pesci.

Tomei received a second Best Supporting Actress nomination for playing a distraught girlfriend in "In the Bedroom" (2001) and another for portraying the girlfriend in "The Wrestler" (2010).

MOVIES SHE LOVES

"I love doing stories that really touch your heart," she says.  "That's why I like to do little gems. These films are usually sandwiched into all the action films."

"On the smaller movies, you often just have a good time, laugh and go through this emotional thing together," she says.

She loves going to indie dramas too.

"Frankly, I find it a relief to see a movie about real people," she says.  "Superheroes are great, but give me someone who is heroic in their own lives."

Tomei doesn't beat herself up about making right vs. wrong decisions in life or in her career. 

"You make decisions in life and live with them," she says. "I've been working a long time. I guess my motto has always been, 'You win some, you lose some.'"

Off screen, Tomei lives quietly in New York City and her name doesn't frequent the gossip columns.

"I like my solitude," she says.

She isn't snuggling up at night to a guy named Oscar.

"For a long time, I had the Oscar in my bathroom. I figured it was the one place in my New York apartment where everyone could see it," she says with a warm laugh.

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