Tamara Tunie quotes:

I grew up in Pittsburgh, and regularly, my parents would take us to the Holiday House Supper Club to see acts like Nancy Wilson, Sarah Vaughn, Ben Vereen, Freda Payne, Stephanie Mills, and The Temptations, to name a few.

I was the first African-American woman to play Maggie in 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.' It was at the Virginia State Theatre, and we turned Richmond upside down.

I'm Irish on St. Patrick's Day. I'm Italian on Columbus Day. I'm a New Yorker every day.

I appreciate being able to give back to charities I care about such as the American Diabetes Association - my older sister passed away from diabetes - and Figure Skating in Harlem, which teaches young girls about confidence, focus and goal-setting.

I want to play Eva Peron. I've already done a lot of Shakespeare, but I'd like to do Lady Macbeth.

My Native American heritage was not embraced by our family, and we grew up African-American, so I didn't have a lot of access or history to that line of my family.

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.

Fortunately, I'm known as the hardest-working woman in showbiz, not to compete with James Brown. I've always been a multi-tasker.

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.

All you have is yourself and what you have to present, and just focus on that. And if you can walk out of the audition and say to yourself, 'I hit all my beats,' 'I accomplished my emotional honesty,' or 'I remembered my words,' then that's winning.

I grew up in a funeral home. Both my parents were morticians.

I am always happy to use my song and dance training.

I was very good in all the maths and sciences.

When I first moved to New York, all I did was musical theater. That's what I studied at Carnegie Mellon University.

I grew up in a funeral home, born and raised, and everyone was always like, 'Well, what was that like?' and I was like, 'It was normal', because it's all I knew.

You have to continue to grow and evolve as individuals in order for your marriage to evolve. It takes two pillars to support a structure. If those two pillars become one, you have a structure that teeters.

Here's how I look at it: Life is full of challenges. Everybody has them. For some, it's health or family crises. I had a financial challenge.

I adore the designer B. Michael's curve-flattering gowns, but there is nothing better than jeans with a crisp white shirt.

I'm all about the drugstore beauty products. They're affordable and get the job done.

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.

I've lived in New York for thirty years now, but I'm a proud Pittsburgher, and home is home. My family's still in Pittsburgh.

I'm always happy and most at home on the stage. I love film and television, but I love live performance... your immediacy with the audience, it makes all the difference in the world.

I believe that you can always learn from observation.

Understand that the time in the audition is your time. Really own it and take control of it. And do what you prepared. Focus on really executing what it is that you intended to do.

I took the whole college prep trajectory, and then in my senior year of high school, I decided that performing was something that I had always done as a kid, and I loved it... I said, 'This makes people happy when I do this, I feel good, I get to pretend and explore other areas and learn so much'.

I truly believe that when a person makes a concrete decision and takes action towards a goal that they've set, that the universe will step in and provide opportunities.

I just think there are enough hours in the day. If you just focus and dedicate yourself and approach each task as it presents itself, you can accomplish a lot.

I still enjoy doing the things I've always done, like going to a monthly dance party at a club downtown.

When I first got to New York, all I did was musicals. After a few years I had to make a conscious choice to close the door on musicals, because I was getting pigeon-holed as a musical theater performer.

There was a time, actually, when I hadn't been singing, and I'd lost a lot of my ability. My range had shrunk.

Show business is fickle, and though I have been blessed with a healthy career, who knows how long that will last?

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.

I have Native American blood. I have African blood. I have European blood.

I've been in this business a long time, and I'm very clear on what is real and what is fleeting.

I always watch the work I do.

I truly believe that when a person makes a concrete decision and takes action towards a goal they've set, that the universe will step in and provide opportunities