Tomei battles expectations in a choppy acting career

NEW YORK -- Marisa Tomei has been busy since winning the Academy Award as best supporting actress for 1992's "My Cousin Vinny" -- busy, but not always acclaimed.

"I've had a career that has had ups and downs, like most actors' careers," she says, curled up on a hotel sofa. "I guess I thought I'd be the exception. I'm not. It's up and down."

After more than a dozen movies, plus appearances on Broadway, off-Broadway and television, the last year or so definitely has seen an upswing, with her subtle Oscar-nominated turn as a bereaved girlfriend in "In the Bedroom."

For anyone who still thought her first Oscar nomination was a fluke, Tomei still bristles.

"I'm sensitive to it because it makes it sound like, 'Where were you for 10 years?' It felt like I was a miserable failure for 10 years and now I'm vindicated," she says. "Of course, it hurt my feelings.

"Everybody has their own measure of what success is to them and what they want out of life. It's not up to media or anybody to judge when somebody's life is going well or not."

While many critics thought her "In the Bedroom" performance was the best of her career, she responds: "I don't think people have seen one-tenth of what I can do. It all depends on the right part coming along. I don't think I can do everything, but I know that I can do a lot more."

Tomei, 37, shows some of that versatility in her new film "Just a Kiss," playing a psychotic bowling alley attendant who reads fortunes in beer rings and has a penchant for sadomasochism.

The black comedy -- co-staring Kyra Sedgwick, Taye Diggs, Ron Eldard and Marley Shelton -- tells the story of a group of New Yorkers whose lives are torn apart by infidelity.

Despite the rough spots in her career, Tomei says she seems to have maintained a reservoir of good will from fans.

"I really do feel that people are happy for me. I get the general gestalt, I get the vibe. I just can't seem to get that to translate into more options for me," she says with a sigh.