The Oscar winner talks to PEOPLE about her busy year and her bond with longtime ‘Spider-Man’ costars Tom Holland and Zendaya.

NEED TO KNOW

• Marisa Tomei reflects on nearly a decade working with Tom Holland and Zendaya in the Spider-Man films
• She praises their growth and success, calling it a “deep, deep joy” to witness their lives transform
• Tomei is proud of Aunt May’s role as a mentor to Peter Parker in the Spider-Man universe

Marisa Tomei is back in action, and busier than ever.

The Oscar winner, 61, has a packed slate of projects ahead, including The Mongoose with Liam Neeson and the horror film Hellhound with Sam Rockwell. She also recently nabbed a lead role in Season 2 of the HBO series War and reprised her role as Peter Parker’s late Aunt May in flashbacks in this summer’s blockbuster, Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

“It’s been a seriously busy year!” she tells PEOPLE with a laugh.

For the actress, the flurry of new projects comes after a period when Hollywood was disrupted by the pandemic and strikes. Now, Tomei says the entertainment industry finally feels like it has found its footing again.

“It’s nice, after an enforced fallow period, to find things that were speaking to me that I could say yes to,” she says. “It feels like, energetically, things needed a certain amount of time before they clicked back into place.” She adds, “It’s nice.”

Tomei is certainly no stranger to working hard — the New York City-born actress has been a fixture on both the big and small screens ever since she landed her first role on As the World Turns in 1983, and then famously won an Oscar for My Cousin Vinny in 1993.

In the decades since, she has moved between major studio movies, independent films and Broadway productions while continuing her work as a founding member of the Off-Broadway theater company Naked Angels.

Last year, she also launched the supplement company Terra Mare, which sells products including Morning Restore, a collagen powder with vitamins and pre- and probiotics.

“You don’t have to really think about it,” she says of why she loves the products so much, noting that Morning Restore gets rid of her brain fog about 30 minutes after she takes it. “There’s always been a lot of pressure on women, so I wanted something simple that wasn’t going to create another cycle of chasing perfectionism.”

When it comes to her film work, she says having a front-row seat to the rise of Tom Holland and Zendaya has been delightful. She’s worked with the pair through the Spider-Man films for nearly a decade, playing May Parker, aunt and mentor to Holland’s Peter Parker.

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“It’s been very exciting to see them soar,” Tomei says of the newly-married couple. “And to watch their lives change and have this abundance. It’s been a deep, deep joy for me.”

She remains equally appreciative of her own place in the Spider-Man universe.

“The Spider-Man movies are so exquisitely constructed, and I’m very humbled to be a part of it,” she says.

And Tomei is especially proud of the role Aunt May played in Peter Parker’s story.

“For my character to be the female mentor to this young man, this neighborhood hero? It’s very cool.”

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