Tamara Tunie

Acclaimed actress Tamara Tunie made her daytime debut in 1987 as Jessica Griffin on As the World Turns, a role she played until 2005 and again from 2000-07 and in 2009. She made her triumphant return to soaps in 2025 as matriarch Anita Dupree on Beyond the Gates. Tunie has a wide range of credits, from Broadway (Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music) to film (Wall Street, Devil’s Advocate) to prime-time television (NYPD Blue, 24, Law & Order: SVU).

A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, she now sits on its board of trustees. Tunie is a founder of Black Theatre United and serves on the board of directors at Harlem Stage/The Gatehouse and City Theatre Company in Pittsburgh. In 2007, she won a Tony Award as a producer of the Broadway musical Spring Awakening.