Tomei, an Italian American, was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Patricia "Addie," an English teacher, and Gary A. Tomei, a trial lawyer. She has a younger brother, Adam, and was partly raised by her paternal grandparents, Rita and Romeo Tomei. Tomei grew up in Midwood. While there she became captivated by the Broadway shows that her theater-loving parents took her to and became drawn to acting as a career. After graduating from Edward R. Murrow High School, she attended Boston University for a year, then transferred to New York University, in 1983, after landing a role in the soap opera As The World Turns. Soon after, she dropped out of school altogether as her career began to take off.