About
Tamara Tunie (born March 14, 1959) is an American film, stage, and television actress, singer, director, and producer. She is best known for her roles as attorney Jessica Griffin on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns (1987–1995, 1999–2007, 2009) and as medical examiner Melinda Warner in the NBC police drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2000–2021). Tunie also appeared in films such as Rising Sun (1993), The Devil’s Advocate (1997), The Caveman’s Valentine (2001) receiving an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Female, Flight (2012), and Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022). Since February 2025, she has played the role of Anita Dupree on the CBS daytime soap opera Beyond the Gates, for which she received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2026.
A native of Homestead, Pennsylvania, she was the fourth of six children raised in the family-run funeral home by parents James W. Tunie and Evelyn Hawkins Tunie. She sang in her church choir, was in the high school band, and took dance lessons in her hometown. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical theater from Carnegie Mellon University…
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