Beloved for decades as Jessica Griffin on As the World Turns, Tamara Tunie is making her grand return to daytime TV in Beyond the Gates—the first network soap opera to premiere in more than 25 years. The Tony and Obie Award-winner is also preparing to direct a series of powerful musicals honoring Black trailblazers like Dorothy Dandridge, but not so long ago, Tamara admits she didn’t feel very powerful.
“I went through a difficult divorce,” the Law & Order: SVU alumna confides during an intimate sit-down cover story interview for FIRST, on sale Friday, February 28th (find your copy at Walmart and grocery stores nationwide or you can buy online here). “I was blindsided and devastated. I held the tension in my back, and I blew out discs in my spine. I was stuck. I couldn’t walk.”
Here, Tamara opens up about finding her voice and her power—and as CBS wraps Black History Month by launching its new hour-long daily drama today, the soap opera veteran teases what to expect from Beyond the Gates.
Tamara Tunie talks learning to speak her truth
While acupuncture and physical therapy helped her get back on her feet after her divorce, it was the internal work that prepared Tamara, who turns 66 next month, to handle a more recent, professional blow.
“I had a massive disappointment that hurt my spirit, but this time, I didn’t take it lying down,” she says. “Since I was a kid, I would get emotional and just burst into tears about whatever. My voice would start shaking.
“But I’ve learned how to stand strong in my opinion, navigate the emotion of it and still articulate my point,” she continues. “It still didn’t turn out the way I thought it should, but I had my say, I spoke my truth—and it didn’t result in back problems!”
Tamara Tunie talks inspiration, resilience and divine order
“I find strength in knowing myself, my source and my family,” says Tamara. “Having experienced numerous disappointments in my career has also made me resilient—being an actor gives you a thick skin!
“But I attribute a lot of my strength to my mother,” she adds. “She’s a feisty 90-year-old, living independently and still traveling. She’s a rock. It’s really all about putting one foot in front of the other.”
When trudging through life’s more challenging days, Tamara does her best to keep the faith.
“The wisest advice I’ve ever gotten was, ‘Everything happens in divine order,’” she says. “That doesn’t mean that when stuff happens, we don’t have a human reaction, but that time reveals all.
“Anytime I feel like the pressure or stress is building, I take circular breaths—breathing in for four, holding it for four, breathing out for four, and doing that three times,” she continues. “It helps a lot.”
Tamara Tunie shares her cardio hack and health booster
“I ask a lot of myself,” Tamara admits, “and when I call on my body to do things, I need it to be strong and capable—not just physically, but emotionally as well. So I try to take care of myself. I stay hydrated and get enough sleep. I take supplements and I exercise.
“But the brain is a muscle too, and constantly using it and flipping it into different characters, genres and roles keeps my mind strong,” continues the actress, who was on the London stage playing Kamala Harris in last season’s critically acclaimed production of THE 47th and brought SVU’s beloved Dr. Warner to Law and Order: Organized Crime last year.
When it comes to keeping her body fit, Tunie is dedicated—but she’s no gym rat.
“I was a dancer when I first moved to New York and during COVID, when we couldn’t leave the house, three of my dancer girlfriends led workouts over Zoom,” she recounts. “Now, I still workout at home, because then I can do it at my leisure. I try to switch it up, so I don’t get bored. Recently, I bought a step board, found some step classes on YouTube and I’ve been stepping!”
Silver fox Tamara Tunie’s favorite lotions, potions and beauty products
“If I’m not working, I don’t wear much makeup,” Tamara reveals. “When I do wear makeup, I always take it off before I go to sleep. I’ll start with eye makeup remover pads, then I use Neutrogena face wipes, followed by Clarins cleanser and toner. I love my lotions and potions like Sunday Riley vitamin C oil. There’s something calming and comforting about that nightly ritual.”
While she loves her products, this beauty is done messing with hair color.
“I’ve been going grey since my 20s, so I’ve been dyeing it for all these years,” Tamara confides. “And that grey is persistent! It seemed like every time I walked out of the salon and got to the corner, I had roots again. I’d always wanted to be a silver fox, so I finally did it—and everyone said I looked younger, somehow. So when The Gates came around, I decided to represent the women of my age who are embracing their natural hair color and look fabulous!”
Tamara Tunie teases ‘Beyond the Gates’: ‘It’s not just a ‘Black soap.’
After all the buzz around CBS’ brand new hour-long daily drama, Tamara, who plays powerhouse matriarch Anita Dupree, is thrilled to finally introduce audiences to Beyond the Gates.
“The show is centered around a wealthy African American family and it’s showing a part of the African American community that has not been represented on either daytime or nighttime television, but the community is diverse,” Tamara says. “Everyone is represented, so it’s not just a ‘Black soap.’”
“As for what you can expect…” she teases. “First, expect delicious drama. Expect to be titillated and expect to want to tune in every day. And second, expect eye candy—because everyone and everything is gorgeous! We also have a lot of musical people on the show, so there’ll be music.”
Tamara Tunie talks stepping up as matriarch on ‘Beyond the Gates’
CBS’ brand-new soap opera boasts veteran scribe Michele Val Jean as executive producer and stars The Bold & the Beautiful alum Karla Mosley and Passions and One Life to Live alum Daphnee Duplaix as Tamara’s onscreen daughters, Nicole and Dani. With folks like Tamara’s onscreen husband Clifton Davis new to the genre, the show has been slowly ramping up production to meet soap operas’ infamously fast pace of shooting.
Taking the lead on Beyond the Gates has been an opportunity for Tamara to bring back to daytime all she’s learned during her decades working on both stage and screen.
“I feel like I’m not just the matriarch of the Dupree family, but also the matriarch on set,” the Blue Bloods alum tells FIRST with a smile. “It’s my privilege to be someone my fellow cast and crew can come to with questions and to be a source of ideas or information. It’s a great feeling!”
See Tamara as Anita Dupree in Beyond the Gates, premiering today, and airing weekdays at 2:00 p.m. ET/1:00 p.m. PT on CBS, and streaming on Paramount+.
