Marisa Tomei

Marisa Tomei

Tomei in 2011, photo by Prphotos

Place of Birth: Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S.

Date of Birth: December 4, 1964

Ethnicity: Italian

Marisa Tomei is an American actress and producer. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for My Cousin Vinny (1992). Her roles also include Chaplin, Untamed Heart, Only You, The Perez Family, In the Bedroom, Anger Management, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, The Wrestler, Crazy, Stupid, Love., and post-2015 Spider-Man sequels.

Marisa is the daughter of Addie, an English teacher, and Gary Tomei, a trial lawyer. Her brother, Adam Tomei, is also an actor. Her parents are both of Italian descent. Her family is from Tuscany, Calabria, Campania, and Sicily. Marisa has Italian citizenship.

A DNA test whose results were displayed on the show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2019) stated that Marisa’s genetic ancestry is:

*69.5% Italian
*14.6% Broadly Southern European
*3.4% Balkan
*3.4% Broadly European
*3.3% Middle Eastern
*3.3% Northwestern European
*2.0% Iberian
*0.5% Unmatched

Marisa’s paternal grandfather was Romeo Robert Tomei (the son of Lindoro Tomei and Faustina Maria/Marie Lucchesi). Romeo was born in New York, to Italian parents, from Lucca, Tuscany. Lindoro was born in Ghivizzano, the son of Nicolao Tomei and Angela Puccini. Faustina was born in Vitiana, the daughter of Natale Lucchesi and Matilda Agostini.

Marisa’s paternal grandmother was Rita Albina Elvira Calvosa (the daughter of Demetrio Carlo/Charles “Albert” Calvosa and Maria/Mary Preziozi/Preziosi/Prezioso). Rita was born in New York, to Italian parents. Demetrio was born in San Demetrio Corone, Cosenza, Calabria, the son of Raffaele Placido “Raphael” Calvosa and Serafina Aurora Corrado, whose own father, Don Carlo Maria Corrado, was a royal chancellor, in the government of Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies. Maria was born in Naples, Campania, the daughter of Sabino Preziosi/Prezioso and Filomena/Philomina Biondo/Biondi.

Marisa’s maternal grandfather was Armando Bianchi (the son of Francesco Leopoldo Bianchi and Adelaide Maria Angiola Canovaro). Armando was born in Rio nell’Elba, Livorno, Tuscany, Italy. Francesco was born in Cecina, Livorno, the son of Dionisio Bianchi and Carmine Tacchini. Francesco was murdered when he was 26 years old. Adelaide was born on Elba, an island, part of the Province of Livorno, and was the daughter of Arturo Augusto Aurelio Canovaro and Marianna Taplaberro.

Marisa’s maternal grandmother was named Maria/Mary D’Ignoti (the daughter of Giacomo “James” D’Ignoti). Maria was born in New York, to Sicilian parents, from Messina. Giacomo was the son of Antonino D’Ignoti and Buta Francesca. D’Ignoti, meaning “of the unknown,” was often the surname given to foundling children.

Sources: Genealogy of Marisa Tomei – https://www.geni.com

Family history of Marisa Tomei – http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.it

Marisa’s father on the 1940 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org

Marisa’s paternal grandfather, Romeo Robert Tomei, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Romeo Robert Tomei on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org

Marisa’s paternal grandmother, Rita Albina Elvira Calvosa, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org

Death record of Marisa’s paternal grandmother, Rita Albina Elvira (Calvosa) Tomei – https://www.findagrave.com

Death record of Marisa’s paternal great-grandfather, Demetrio Carlo/Charles “Albert” Calvosa – https://familysearch.org

Marisa’s maternal grandparents, Armando Bianchi and Maria/Mary D’Ignoti, on the 1940 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org

ethnic

Curious about ethnicity

27 Responses

  1. fukyou says:

    Thought she had a japanese name

  2. theropod says:

    She looks very Assyrian. A lot of our women look like that. But then again, Assyrians do look a bit Italian.

    Andre Agassi is part Assyrian btw….

  3. Princess says:

    She looks African American.

  4. SparkleTime says:

    Ethnic, while both Marisa’s parents are Italian, she has African ancestry through her mother. Her mother is 13% African, she found, through a DNA test, which would make Marisa 6.5%.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndOC8kPiEUw

    I think this site proves that whites are a lot more mixed than we are led on to believe. That is why I have no idea why people keep speaking of “pure whites” and such. I think you will find that there is no such thing.

    • SparkleTime says:

      In the video, Marisa mentions how she and her family are interested in genealogy. That is how she found out her mother has African ancestry. Her family is very Italian, though.

      I brought it up simply because I think whites are a lot more mixed than we are led to believe. That is why I do not believe in “pure white.” It makes zero sense, anyway. Life did not start in Europe.

    • sudeuro says:

      She must’ve taken some shitty pop DNA test. A lot of those use bad markers that overestimate admixture. Most of her ancestry is from Tuscany, and Tuscans have 0% African admixture. Other Italians have only 0-1%.

      http://bit.ly/1xEay9N

      • memphis says:

        Rome once ruled the world for centuries. Some Africans were Roman soldiers (Saint Maurice the Moor circa 3A.D.). Many moved to England. It is well known how the Moors (Berber,Arab,other Africans from Mali or Senegal) invaded Italy. Overall African ancestry in Italy is around 2% but is higher when you look at certain regions like the South. Some Italians have visible African or Middle Eastern ancestry where some Northern Italians look Celtic.

        • ectag says:

          Rome did not rule “the world”. The Roman Empire included most of northwestern, central, and southern Europe and extended into the near east and north Africa (north Africans aren’t black). Rome had almost no contact with black Africa whatsoever. The idea that Rome had black Africans in its legions is an Afrocentrist fantasy.

          • midori29 says:

            @Ectag you are not serious right. Black subsaharan Africans mixed with Southern Italians and Greeks and many still do. Some parts of Southern Italy especially Sicily have genetic diseases and markers only shared with Southern Italians. At one point in America Italians were not considered whites because of Arab and subsaharan dna. Look it up. This is no afrocentic fantasy, its reality.

          • fuzzybear44 says:

            @ectag

            I’ve. Put plenty of evidence on the site over the time I ‘ve been here, that Greece, Rome and Europe in general knew black people very well, with much contact. They even have kid websites, which one of them. I actually put on the site before teaching this(made by Europeans)

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