In “Woineshet,” the Academy Award-winning actress chronicles the story of an Ethiopian teenager who spoke out against bride abduction.

Marisa Tomei has played some scene-stealing females in her career. (Btw, thanks for still showing love to My Cousin Vinny, TBS. Very funny indeed.) But now, the Academy Award-winning actress is making her directorial debut with a powerful short film called Woineshet, about a young woman who fought back against bride abduction in Ethiopia. The story comes from Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s best-selling book and global women’s rights movement Half The Sky.

“Of course I was familiar with Nick’s column in the [New York] Times, wondering for about a year now, who is this person? Who is the person daring to keep putting front and center, week after week, the rights of women and girls,” Tomei told guests at CARE’s “Half The Sky Live” event last Thursday evening at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts.

Tomei — who co-directed with Lisa Leone — said she was more than thrilled when, out of the blue, she got a call about a film series being made based on Kristof and WuDunn’s book. “They were looking for directors, and someone else had gotten the swine flu, and therefore could I leave for Ethiopia in three days? (Pause) I happened to be free,” she shrugged with a laugh

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