Actress Tamara Tunie shows off her winning smile next to The Daily News parade float.
But there she was Monday, beaming in the bright sunshine and gracing The Daily News float at the Columbus Day Parade.
"It's so exciting to be here," said Tunie as excited fans snapped her photo.
Never mind that Tunie's as Italian as corned beef and cabbage.
"I'm Irish on St. Patrick's Day, I'm Italian on Columbus Day, I'm a New Yorker every day," Tunie said as she waited for the parade to begin.
Tunie, 51, had already made her mark on Broadway and as attorney Jessica Griffin on the CBS soap opera "As the World Turns" when she was tapped to play Dr. Melinda Warner on SVU.
Playing a coroner was not that big a stretch for Tunie - she's an undertaker's daughter and grew up above a funeral home in Pennsylvania.
Now Harlem is home and Tunie said having a part on a New York-based show is bliss, especially when she gets to shoot scenes in her neighborhood.
"I can walk my French bulldog, Spraga, between takes," she said.
Money Honey Maria Bartiromo was the Grand Marshal of the annual display of Italian pride. And there was no mistaking her heritage.
"I grew up in an Italian family," said Bartiromo, who anchors CNBC's "Closing Bell" and is host and managing editor of "The Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo."
"It's an opportunity to appreciate our rich heritage and upbringing," she said. "These are my friends and family here."
