Tamara Tunie Says Her Roles as Cissy Houston in Whitney Biopic andBeyond the GatesMatriarch Are 'Very Much the Same' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Tamara Tunie on ‘Beyond the Gates’ (left) and as Cissy Houston in the 2022 Whitney Houston biopic ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’.Photo:Quantrell Colbert/CBS; Sony Pictures Entertainment/Courtesy Everett Collection

Quantrell Colbert/CBS; Sony Pictures Entertainment/Courtesy Everett Collection

Playing an iconic matriarch is nothing new forTamara Tunie.

Tunie’s Anita is the matriarch of the Duprees: a tell-it-like-it-is, family-oriented, EGOT recipient. Anita shares two daughters — Dr. Nicole Dupree Richardson (Daphnée Duplaix) and Dani Dupree (Karla Mosley — with her husband Vernon Dupree (Clifton Davis), a retired U.S. senator who is all about keeping the close-knit family in one piece.

This isn’t the first time Tunie has taken on a dynamic lead. In 2022, she portrayedCissy Houston,the mother of late iconWhitney Houstonin the latter’s biopicI Wanna Dance with Somebody.She tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview that the role served as a stepping stone to help her embrace all things Anita.

Tamara Tune in ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’.Sony Pictures Entertainment /Courtesy Everett Collection

Sony Pictures Entertainment /Courtesy Everett Collection

“I think they’re very much the same,” Tunie says of Anita and Cissy, whodied in Octoberat age 91. “I say that because I know from doing the movie and doing my research on Cissy and talking to people who know and love Cissy, I know how fiercely she loved her family.”

“I think that is the same thing for Anita, she loves her family fiercely. And she don’t take no stuff,” Tunie proudly quips. “She’ll call you out when she needs to. So playing that iconic mother has definitely teed me up for playing Anita Dupree.”

Tunie’s mother, Evelyn Tunie, was also a source of inspiration, she tells PEOPLE.

“My mother has been my role model and example my entire life. She is a woman who believes in family first. She is a woman who stands up for what’s right. She’s a woman who has always said if you see something that needs doing, then do it. That’s who I feel like Anita is,” Tunie says. “Also, my mother is beautiful, she’s glamorous, she was a singer, she was an actor, she was also a mortician businesswoman, so she was all of that. So I feel like I can draw a lot of Anita from her example and experience.”

While Anita isn’t Tunie’s first rodeo in the soap opera genre, it still marks a significant first for the actress.

“It’s a different rodeo,” says Tunie, who spent two decades on daytime television as Jessica Griffin Harris, one of the only Black characters on CBS’As the World Turns. “I’ll say they’re both fruit, but it’s apples and oranges,” she adds.

‘As the World Turns’ star Tamara Tunie in 2004.Cliff Lipson/CBS/Courtesy Everett Collection

Cliff Lipson/CBS/Courtesy Everett Collection

“When I was onAs the World Turns,I was more often than not the only Black contract player on the show. Over time, others were added. But when you’re the only Black person in the room and the only Black perspective at the table, it’s a heavy thing to carry. When they’re writing stories for you and you’re the only one, then people say that’s the story.”

She appreciates the concept ofBeyond the Gates,which is centered around an African-American family, spotlighting the upscale Black lifestyle in a relevant way.

“We know the African-American community is diverse in its own community,” Tunie explains. “We’re not a monolith. There are so many stories to tell and so many experiences to share. With this show now, we have a whole family and community of African-American players, so multiple stories can be told, not just one. [Fairmont Crest] is a new perspective of a population of the Black community that exists.”

‘Beyond the Gates’ star Tamara Tunie.Quantrell Colbert/CBS

Quantrell Colbert/CBS

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Still, she adds,Beyond the Gatesfinds a fresh way to highlight other communities. “This is truly a multi-cultural show,” says the Tony Award winner. “There’s not just the one Asian or the one Black actor or the one Hispanic, we’re all up in there. We’re all a part of the Fairmont Crest community. It’s really delicious in that way.”

The show premiered on Monday, Feb. 24, amid the current charged political and racial climate. Tunie says it couldn’t have made its debut at a better time.

Karla Mosley (left) and Tamara Tunie on ‘Beyond the Gates’.Quantrell Colbert/CBS

“I think this is the perfect time for this show to land,” she states. “We’re presenting this now because this is a part of Black life and culture that has been a part of the history of this country and the fabric of this country for hundreds and hundreds of years. No, we’re not going away, we’re actually going to be in your living room every day. And in the most fabulous way, and in the most welcoming way. Because this show, though it centers around the Black family, there are universal stories. That’s why people love soap operas.”

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Along with the theme of Black excellence, Tunie says it’s the drama that takes the series to new heights.

“It’s the human frailties that really drive the shows — the flaws, the secrets, the lies, the backstabbing. So it’s all of that on this show, but it just looks so much different because of the population of the stories,” she explains. “The writers are knocking this show out of the park, and the stories are going to be fantastic.”

Beyond the Gatesairs weekdays (2 p.m. ET) on CBS.

source: people.com