When Marisa Tomei was cast as Aunt May in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a fair share of fans pointed out that she wasn’t quite what people expected. That’s because the character is often portrayed as an older woman while Tomei still looks youthful. That still applies to the star now. Indeed, just days after turning 61, the actress shared a photo of herself looking absolutely sensational.
Taking to Instagram to share a casual shot of herself walking by a pool, Tomei can be seen wearing a white tank top, jeans and a long, oversized plaid jacket along with running shoes. She also has her long hair worn down around her shoulders while she’s popped on a pair of sunglasses.
In the caption, she wrote, “🎂to all my tomatoes, thank you for the birthday juju 💕”
Plenty of her followers left comments on the post, including fellow star and relative Julianne Moore, who wrote, “Happy birthday cousin ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️”
Another person wrote, “Walking treasure 🌹🪭🌹🎂🥰🌞❤️🔥”
“Happy birthday to the most beautiful actress I’ve ever seen on the screen🔥🔥🫵🎂🥂,” came from another fan.
Someone else left a comment, saying, “Happy birthday beautiful Marisa!!🎉❤️”
Marisa Has Advice for Her Younger Self
GettyWhile Tomei doesn’t necessarily like to be defined by her age, she does have some advice for her younger self.
In March 2024, she was asked by New Beauty, “I know that you’ll turn 60 this year. Is there any thoughts that’s coming with that? Are you excited for it, or where are you with that?”
“I think it’s a silly thing to be quantified by,” Tomei replied.
New Beauty noted, “That’s totally fair. Do you have any advice that you’d like to give to your younger self when you were starting out, either professionally or personally?”
“My advice to my younger self is keep partying and keep having fun and do all the late nights and do everything that comes across your plate,” she said. “That’s the time to do it, really.”
Marisa Played a Younger Aunt May
GettyWhen it comes to Tomei playing Aunt May in the Marvel “Spiderman” movies, she admits it left her “a little flummoxed.”
“Certainly you’ve seen photos and drawings of earlier iterations of Aunt May—they don’t look like the version in theaters currently,” Vogue noted during an interview with Tomei. “Can you talk about your approach to playing a younger, cooler, never-before-seen take on the character?”
“I tried hard to understand the cultural split: how to be very maternal but also very desirable,” she said. “On the one hand, it was kind of the mandate of the character and the way it was being preconceived [by Marvel].”
She added, “But there was what I thought the fans expected from the character, which was a strong maternal presence tending to home fires. In combining those things, I became a little flummoxed.”
Fortunately, she nailed her version of the character when the cameras started rolling.
As much as I loved My Cousin Vinnie. Marissa does look good for her age. But her age is still showing. You can’t run away from old age. It all catches up with everybody. Sorry Marissa you anit that adorable Marissa from My Cousin Vinnie anymore. You look your age. But we all still love you. And your still adorable!!! Only in a older way.