Tamara Tunie: Deep Breaths Before the First Down
Deep Breaths Before the First Down
Deep Breaths Before the First Down
By ROBIN FINN
Published: October 16, 2009
Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times
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 with her husband, Gregory Generet, a jazz vocalist; they have joint custody of their niece’s French bulldog, Spraga. ROBIN FINN
LATE START I wake up late, say 10 or 11, because we’ve usually been out and about town until 2 or 3 a.m. listening to music at the jazz clubs or hitting the jazz clubs post-theater. The first thing I do is brush my teeth - we like to start the morning with fresh breath - and put on my pajamas and meander down to the kitchen for a glass of orange juice. No coffee. No caffeine.
PUT ON PJS? Because I’ve slept in the buff.
BREAKFAST LIGHT We sit and read the paper in conjunction with having a little breakfast. Usually fruit salad, or I make myself a smoothie with rice milk, coconut water and yogurt. My husband doesn’t like smoothies.
100-DEGREE STRETCH At 1 I’m at the Bikram yoga studio in the neighborhood. There we sweat and stretch and focus for 90 minutes. Bikram, for those who don’t know yoga, is also called the hot yoga - because the room temperature is over 100 degrees. If you could do it naked, you would, but with 30 people in the class, it wouldn’t be pretty. It’s somewhat torturous, particularly if I’ve had a couple of drinks at the clubs the night before. But of the 30 people, most of them probably have hangovers.
COOLING DOWN After class I crawl back home in my soaking wet clothes and take a warm shower and then a cold shower. Then I put on jeans and a white cotton shirt and meander downstairs to see what my husband is cooking. He’s a fantastic self-taught chef; his duck confit in a gravy over grits is ridiculous.
GAME TIME I’m a rabid Steelers fan: I’m originally from Pittsburgh. So if the Giants or Pittsburgh are playing, the rest of Sunday is all about food and football. We have a TV in the kitchen. Around 7, we adjourn to the den on the third floor, maybe do a little “60 Minutes,” and then we’re into night football. With some nachos or sticky wings and a salad.
IF IT’S NOT FOOTBALL SEASON? Then I wait for football season to come; I wish they played as many games as baseball does.
PRIME TIME CATCH-UP Since I wake up so late, I’m not tired, so after the game ends we catch up on our favorite TV shows: “Burn Notice,” “Ugly Betty,” and “Law & Order: SVU.” If I’m shooting during the week, I don’t get a chance to see it. It doesn’t get old after 10 years because I’m always finding out new things about my character; I’d been on the show several years before I knew I had a husband.