Character actress Concetta Tomei was born on December 30, 1945, and raised in her hometown of Kenosha, Wisconsin, the only child of a policeman who was a talented artist on the sly. She came from a long line of educators and was likely drawn to that career at an influential age. She attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in education. After teaching school in a Milwaukee suburb for four years, however, she abruptly quit to pursue her acting dream. She became a student of the famed Goodman School of Drama in Chicago where she received a another degree, a Bachelor of Fine Arts, in theater arts. She started her professional career on the stock and repertory stages and gathered a formidable list of early credits appearing in such plays as A Streetcar Named Desire, Candida, Blithe Spirit and The Corn Is Green. She made her debut on Broadway replacing Carole Shelley in The Elephant Man playing the actress/grande dame Mrs. Kendal. She continued in her role when a subsequent tour went out starring David Bowie.Seeking on-camera experience, she moved out West in the 1980s and found plentiful work on TV with her all-controlling, severe-looking femmes, which culminated in the critically acclaimed Vietnam War drama China Beach (1988) in which she played a hard-as-nails major. She continued with a host of guest parts on L.A. Law, Murphy Brown, Picket Fences and Wings, among many others. Not readily known for her film work, she has nevertheless offered occasional arch support (since 1991) in such pictures as Dont Tell Mom the Babysitters Dead (1991), Twenty Bucks (1993), Out to Sea (1997) Deep Impact (1998), The Muse (1999) and View from the Top (2003). Another regular series TV role came with Providence (1999), in which she played a chain-smoking mom.
Mrs. Mixner
Film 1982
Janet Crisp
Film 1986
Film 1991
Mom
Film 1991
Doyen Salsig
Film 1987
Hazel Carter
Film 1985
Jan
Film 1987
Roxane's Duenna
Film 2008
Marina Preston
Film 1994
Nurse Rennert
Film 1999
Mrs. Stewart
Film 2003
Maj. Lila Garreau
Film 1988
Marina Preston
Film 1994
Victoria Van Borins
Film 1994
Doris
Film 2018
Rita
Film 2005
Patricia Ruiz
Film 1998
Sam's Mother
Film 1993
Elaine
Film 2018
Dr. Estelle Kramer
Tv 1981
Susan Hauber
Tv 1986
Margaret
Tv 2005
Joanne Collins
Tv 1999
Lynda Hansen
Tv 1999
Minister Odala
Tv 1995
Lila Garreau
Tv 1988
Violet Golding (2008)
Tv 2003
Sylvia
Tv 1990
Joyce
Tv 1998
Mrs. Hampton
Tv 1996
Sister Regina
Tv 1993
Tv 1996
Doris Dial
Tv 1988
Evelyn
Tv 2017
Tippy Pemberton
Tv 2017
Celia's Mother
Tv 2005
Mrs. Livingston
Tv 2003
Clara Stern
Tv 1992
Professor Bass
Tv 1994
Jeanette Rennick
Tv 1995
Christia Muse
Tv 2004
Connie DiBenedetto
Tv 2012
Nemo
Tv 2019
Self
Tv 2020
Kate Carpenter
Tv 1994
Mrs. Rawley
Tv 2005
Rep. Pitosi
Tv 2020
Dr. Sarah Kemple
Tv 2005