The charmingly vulnerable actress Marisa Tomei made her mark-and earned an Oscar-as Joe Pesci's over-the-top Brooklyn girlfriend in My Cousin Vinny and has proved her enduring sexiness in movies like The Wrestler and Crazy, Stupid, Love.

A Brooklyn native, Tomei started off in soaps like As The World Turns before landing her star-making role as Mona Lisa Vito in My Cousin Vinny. A rare Oscar win for a comedy performance (critic Rex Reed even suggested that Jack Palance read the wrong name at the ceremony), Tomei starred in films from Nick Cassavetes's Unhook the Stars, the cult film Slums of Beverly Hills, and many a romantic comedy like Only You and What Women Want. In 2001 she reminded the world of her "serious" acting credentials with her Oscar-nominated performance in In The Bedroom and snagged another Oscar nod for 2008's The Wrestler. However, her resume is littered with clunkers like Anger Management and Wild Hogs.

Tomei hit it off with her Chaplin co-star Robert Downey Jr., and the two dated for several years before she got together with actors Dana Ashbrook (cool kids know him as Bobby Briggs) and later, Logan Marshall Green. [Image via Getty]

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