Biography
She might not be a household name, but the statuesque character actress Tamara Tunie sports a resumé as distinctive as she is innately glamorous. Tunie landed her first major role as litigator Jessica Griffin McKechnie Harris on the soap opera
As the World Turns in 1986 -- a part she played for 11 years. In the mean time, Tunie signed for a small role in the endearing yet sadly overlooked coming-of-age dramedy
Sweet Lorraine (1987), an unsung predecessor to the box-office blockbuster
Dirty Dancing, starring
Maureen Stapleton and
Trini Alvarado. Tunie signed for a bit part in the 1989 period murder mystery
Bloodhounds of Broadway, but despite the fact that it claimed a pedigree as impressive as
Lorraine (with
Matt Dillon,
Madonna,
Jennifer Grey, and others), the movie unfortunately failed to deliver on its noble intentions.
Over the course of the next several years, Tunie turned up several times on Steven Bochco's
NYPD Blue, and landed the bit part of Leslie Christos in the
Al Pacino big-city crime drama
City Hall (1996), directed by
Harold Becker (
Taps). She re-teamed with Pacino for the darkly comic supernatural horror film
The Devil's Advocate (1997), then worked with
Brian De Palma and
Nicolas Cage on the 1998 thriller
Snake Eyes. Tunie's most high-profile work, however, was yet to come. In 2002, she delivered a compelling performance as Alberta Green in the
first season of the series thriller
24. In 1999, the actress resumed her portrayal of Jessica Harris on
As the World Turns and wrapped that characterization eight years later. Beginning in 2000, Tunie also portrayed Melinda Warner on the popular series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide