Tomei's other notable films include Chaplin (1992), The Paper (1994), What Women Want (2000), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), Wild Hogs (2007), The Wrestler (2008), The Ides of March (2011), Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011), Parental Guidance (2012), The Big Short (2015), and The King of Staten Island (2020).

[2] She appeared in John Morgan Evans' Daughters (1986) off-Broadway before making her Broadway debut in Wait Until Dark opposite Quentin Tarantino (1998).

[16] Critic Vincent Canby wrote, "Ms. Tomei gives every indication of being a fine comedian, whether towering over Mr. Pesci and trying to look small, or arguing about a leaky faucet in terms that demonstrate her knowledge of plumbing.

"[17] For her performance, Tomei was named Best Supporting Actress at the 1993 Academy Awards, prevailing over Miranda Richardson, Joan Plowright, Vanessa Redgrave and Judy Davis.

American film critic Rex Reed created controversy (and a minor Hollywood myth)[18][19][20] when he suggested that Jack Palance had announced the wrong name after opening the envelope.

A Price Waterhouse accountant explained that if such an event had occurred, "we have an agreement with the Academy that one of us would step on stage, introduce ourselves, and say the presenter misspoke.

The following year, she starred in the romantic drama Untamed Heart with Christian Slater, for which they won the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss.

The next year, Tomei played a pregnant journalist in the comedy-drama The Paper, and appeared alongside Downey again in the romantic comedy Only You.

Of Tomei's performance, Stephen Holden of The New York Times compared her favorably to the film's star, Gena Rowlands, writing, "Ms. Tomei is equally fine as Mildred's [Rowlands' character's] younger, hot-tempered neighbor, whose raw working-class feistiness and bluntly profane vocabulary initially repel the genteel older woman.

In 1998, she was nominated for the American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress for Tamara Jenkins' cult film Slums of Beverly Hills.

[34] Ben Brantley of The New York Times compared her performance unfavorably to Audrey Hepburn who played the role in the 1967 film.

The appeal of [Hepburn] in the part was of seeing her fragile, ladylike persona turn tough and muscular, and Ms. Tomei's performance allows for no similar transition".

[35] Tomei appeared in the Nancy Meyers directed comedy What Women Want starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt.

She also had a supporting role in the romantic comedy Someone Like You starring Ashley Judd, Hugh Jackman, and Greg Kinnear.

[citation needed] In 2003, Tomei appeared in one of her biggest commercial hits the comedy Anger Management starring Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler.

"[39] Ty Burr of The Boston Globe wrote, "Tomei gives a brave and scrupulously honest performance, one that's most naked when Pam has her clothes on.

"[40] Variety exclaimed, "Tomei is in top, emotionally forthright form as she charts a life passage similar to Pam's.

[citation needed] In 2009, Tomei recorded the role of Mary Magdalene in Thomas Nelson's audio Bible production The Word of Promise.

In the episode, she traveled to Tuscany and to the island of Elba to uncover the truth about the 100-year-old murder of her great-grandfather, Francesco Leopoldo Bianchi.

[46] Tomei portrayed a single mom back in school at Binghamton University taking a class taught by Hugh Grant in Marc Lawrence’s 2014 written and directed The Rewrite.

[48] That same year she appeared on Broadway in the Will Eno play The Realistic Joneses starring alongside Tracy Letts, Michael C. Hall, and Toni Collette.

Charles Isherwood of The New York Times wrote, "Ms. Tomei radiates chipper energy...[with] an air of desperate cheeriness that keeps faltering, like a sparkler sputtering in the dark.

Alexis Soloski of The Guardian wrote, "Past productions have starred actors with a heft of gravitas – Anna Magnani, Mercedes Ruehl, Maureen Stapleton – women who may have given the gags somewhere weightier to land.

[55] In 2023 she starred in the Rebecca Miller directed romantic comedy She Came to Me opposite Peter Dinklage and Anne Hathaway which at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival.

During her career, Tomei has appeared on the cover of numerous lifestyle and fashion magazines, such as Vogue Greece,[58] Paper, Redbook,[59] Shape, Gotham and More.

[60] In 2005, she was featured in an advertising campaign and a television commercial for clothing retailer Hanes alongside Michael Jordan, Damon Wayans, and Matthew Perry.