Tamara @ SoftSheen-Carson Optimum Care Salon Collection At The 9th Annual Hoodie Awards

For Law & Order: SVU's Tamara Tunie, playing a medical examiner is in her blood. "My parents are morticians and I grew up in a funeral home, so playing someone who deals with dead people is right up my alley," says the actress, 46. "My parents were very matter-of-fact about death. They taught us the dead are not to be afraid of-it's the living that you got to keep your eye on."

If you're a Law & Order: SVU fan and you get a chance to talk to Tamara Tunie, aka medical examiner Melinda Warner, you want to ask one thing: Are those actors or dummies on her table? "Oh, they're real people,...

Tamara Tunie, who simultaneously plays Medical
Examiner Melinda Warner on NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and Jessica Griffin on CBS’ “As the World Turns,” has always been a multitasker.

“It’s like, the more I have going on, the better,”
Tunie said during a recent interview. “My mom, she’s a doer, too. She’s a multitasker. So I come by it honestly. My philosophy has always been ‘anything can be done.’ I say ‘yes’ to everything. That’s how I have moved through my career. ‘Yes, we can do that.’ ‘We could make that work.’ . . .

There’s a...

"Tamara Tunie (Jessica, As The World Turns) loves living with her guy, Gregory Generet; they're still giving each other flowers and planning surprise candlelit dinners. The relationship has even survived their renovating a five-bedroom Manhattan manse - partly because, Tamara concedes, they chose to remain in their apartment while the work was going on. 'We have our moments, but when things get tense, we say, 'You know, this is house tension.'

She says there was no instant chemistry when they went out for the first time - on a lunch date - over two years ago. 'I told him I wasn't interested...

While she enjoys doing double duty on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Medical Examiner Dr. Warner, As The World Turns' Tamara Tunie (Jessica) admits to having some initial difficulty adjusting to SVU's dark subject matter. "Oh Lord have mercy...I guess it's a little easier now," says Tunie. "When I was first doing the show, I found the lines difficult to learn. I was like, 'What is this?' because I was used to glancing at something and it was in my head, especially having worked on a soap, which is the fastest work in the world. So then I was having a conversation with a friend of...

Tamara Tunie has been successful on Broadway on TV and on the big screen. And she’s happily married and gorgeous. What’s her secret? We talked to her to find out.

What the best thing about life once you get past the 30s?

Life is great! Across the board, my life is just really full and really great. I’ve learned a lot of lessons. I’ve accumulated some wisdom, and I’m in a situation where I can really help my family, not just financially but emotionally. I have 10 nieces and nephews who I’m close to. I can help them along which is a great position to be in.
You’re obviously a very...

Tamara Tunie, celebrated actress and artistic performer of daytime and prime time television, Broadway productions and the world of moviedom, was the featured speaker at the Harmony Club of Homestead’s annual scholarship luncheon held at the Westwood Country Club in West Mifflin.

Raised in the small town of Homestead, Tunie was born into an extremely close-knit family, raised with love, discipline and compassion. The open door policy of the family home made for long-lasting friendships and an environment with lots of laughter. Lessons instilled in her at a young age continue to be the...

A veteran of the mayhem depicted on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” Tamara Tunie is in her 10th season portraying Dr. Melinda Warner, a wryly intelligent medical examiner with a dark sense of humor. Typecasting, she says. Ms. Tunie, 50, appeared in the Broadway revival of “Julius Caesar” with Denzel Washington and recently produced and directed her first independent feature film, “See You in September.” In her foray into soap opera, she was Jessica Griffin on “As the World Turns.” She lives in an 1893 brownstone in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan...