the Independent Spirit Awards for her role in film The Caveman's Valentine, based on George Dawes Green's eponymous novel, opposite Samuel L. Jackson. In 2000, Tunie joined the cast of NBC police procedural series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as medical examiner Melinda Warner. She made her debut as Warner in the second-season episode titled "Noncompliance" and continued to make recurring appearances until Season 7, when she became a regular cast member. She also played this role in Law & Order: Trial by Jury in episode "Day" in 2005, and in the Chicago Fire episode "We Called Her Jellybean" in 2015. Tunie was regular on SVU from Season 7 to 12 and later made recurring appearances to Season 17. She later appeared in episodes in 2018 and 2019, totaling 223 credited episodes. In 2002, Tunie played Alberta Green in the first season of the Fox thriller series 24. In 2010, she made her directing debut with romantic comedy film See You in September. In 2012, she returned to film, playing Margaret Thomason in the Robert Zemeckis-directed drama Flight starring Denzel Washington. From 2014 to 2015, she was regular cast member in the Sundance TV drama series The Red Road. Tunie won a Tony Award in 2007 for the production of the Broadway musical Spring Awakening; she has also won a Drama Desk Award. In 2016, she won an Obie Award for Distinguished Performance in Familiar, written by Danai Gurira. From 2016 to 2018, Tunie had a recurring role as Monica Graham in the CBS police drama series Blue Bloods. In 2018, she was regular cast member in two series, ABC comedy-drama Dietland and BBC Two/Netflix co-produced drama Black Earth Rising. In the latter she played Eunice Clayton, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. Her other television credits include The Good Wife, Survivor's Remorse, Better Call Saul, and Almost Family. Tunie also played Gugu Mbatha-Raw's mother in the 2018 romantic comedy-drama film Irreplaceable You. In 2022, she appeared as Cissy Houston in the biographical drama film Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody directed by Kasi Lemmons. In 2022 she played Kamala Harris in The 47th at The Old Vic theatre in London. Personal life Tunie was married to Greg Bouquett from 1988 to 1991. From 1995 to 2018, she was married to jazz musician Gregory Generet. They separated in 2015. Filmography Film Television As a director Awards