Actress Tamara Tunie, best known for playing a no-nonsense medical examiner "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," rarely smiles in that grim role.

But there she was Monday, beaming in the bright sunshine and gracing The Daily News float at the Columbus दिन Parade.

"It's so exciting to be here," कहा Tunie as excited प्रशंसकों snapped her photo.

Never mind that Tunie's as Italian as corned beef and cabbage.

"I'm Irish on St. Patrick's Day, I'm Italian on Columbus Day, I'm a New Yorker every day," Tunie कहा as she waited for the parade to begin.

Tunie, 51, had already made her mark on Broadway and as attorney Jessica Griffin on the CBS soap opera "As the World Turns" when she was tapped to play Dr. Melinda Warner on SVU.

Playing a coroner was not that big a stretch for Tunie - she's an undertaker's daughter and grew up above a funeral घर in Pennsylvania.

Now Harlem is घर and Tunie कहा having a part on a New York-based दिखाना is bliss, especially when she gets to shoot scenes in her neighborhood.

"I can walk my French bulldog, Spraga, between takes," she said.

Money Honey Maria Bartiromo was the Grand Marshal of the annual display of Italian pride. And there was no mistaking her heritage.

"I grew up in an Italian family," कहा Bartiromo, who anchors CNBC's "Closing Bell" and is host and managing editor of "The दीवार सड़क, स्ट्रीट Journal रिपोर्ट with Maria Bartiromo."

"It's an opportunity to appreciate our rich heritage and upbringing," she said. "These are my फ्रेंड्स and family here."