It took more than 60 years, but Zelda Fassler has finally had her moment in the spotlight.

It happened last week at the Hebrew Home, a sprawling elder-care facility in Riverdale, where a three-day shoot for the short film “Playing With Matches” took place.

The elegantly coiffed 86-year-old appears in the film as an extra: a reminder of her decades-ago dream, thwarted by her family, to be an actress.

“My brother, a producer, asked me if I was ready to lie down on a producer’s couch,” says Fassler, who took acting classes at the Herbert Berghof Studio on Bank Street in her youth. “He said, ‘You don’t get anywhere unless you do it, sweetheart.’ ”

Crushed, Fassler followed a safer path, becoming an event planner for the Port Authority as well as a mother of three. But when she was invited to portray a resident of the fictional “River Hills Home for the Aged,” she jumped at the chance to indulge her lifelong love of acting.

Along with two other residents of the Hebrew Home, she’ll appear in the story of an unlikely pair — a cranky Jewish widower, Nathan Biderman, and Ella, the African-American surgeon who was on call the night his wife died from a bad reaction to anesthesia — who fall in love.

For 90-year-old Viola Demarco, the best part of the experience was performing alongside the film’s star, Dominic Chianese, known for his scene-stealing work as the crotchety and conniving Uncle Junior on “The Sopranos.”

“We’re paisans!” the 87-year-old Chianese exclaimed warmly after Demarco introduced herself.

But, unlike Fassler, Demarco never fancied herself an actress.

“Act? With five children, I never had time to act,” says the Westchester native, who has 11 grandchildren and 11 more great-grandchildren. “That was a first time for me, and I enjoyed every minute,” she says of her late-in-life on-screen debut.

David V. Pomeranz, who runs the Hebrew Home and the adjoining independent senior apartment complex RiverWalk, says he agreed to open the doors to a film crew for precisely this reason: giving members of the community a thrilling new experience.

“Most of the people here lived good long lives, but they’ve never had a chance to be in a movie,” he says.

“We’ll see if they want to be treated differently now,” he adds, jokingly. “If they want executive transportation and flowers every morning. So far, no divas yet.”

Gilbert Marcus, who’s lived at the Hebrew Home for three years and appears on camera in his wheelchair, says that now that he’s a “star,” he has but one small request: “I’d like to see the Yankees win the World Series.”

Marcus, 80, says his brief moment on camera reminded him of his past life as a “starving” teenage musician. As the drummer in a local band, he spent five summers before the age of 21 playing the hotel circuit in the Catskills.

Seniors, and their rich inner lives, inspired former journalist and playwright Tracy Chutorian Semler, 53, to pen “Playing With Matches.”

“I felt there was a story to be told that there’s really no expiration date on romantic love,” says Semler, who grew up in Riverdale, near the Hebrew Home. Along with the residents, Semler’s own parents, ages 88 and 89, also appear as extras in the 25-minute film.

“So much has been said about increasing longevity, but it’s all focused on keeping people ticking,” says Semler, who, along with director Neil Leifer, plans on submitting the film for Oscar consideration. “And not about the desire for sex and love.

“The hourglass doesn’t run out.”