Tessa Thompson

Biography of Tessa Thompson

Tessa Thompson is an American theater and movie actress, a star of the TV series Veronica Mars, Copper and Westworld, as well as the feature movies Creed and Thor: Ragnarok.

Actress Tessa Thompson

Her Childhood and Youth

Tessa Lynn Thompson was born on October 3, 1983, in Los Angeles, but spent her childhood partly in New York's Brooklyn after the divorce of her parents – the mum with children (Tessa and her older sister) stayed in the City of Angels, the dad moved to New York.

By nationality, Tessa Thompson is an American with Afro-Panamanian, European and Mexican roots

Tessa's father, Marc Anthony Thompson, is a singer and songwriter, a member of the musical band Chocolate Genius Inc. The girl's father is of Afro-Panamanian descent; her mother is of European and Mexican ancestry. The actress’s grandfather is musician Bobby Ramos, one of the first Mexican TV presenters on American television.

Tessa was fascinated by the movie industry from an early age. She and her father act in a show about catching crocodiles on the Hollywood Hills. It was their personal game: the little girl called him and left the lines on behalf of different characters on the answering machine, and once she came to meet him, dressed as a boy-hunter. I always liked to act as other personalities – it is a real art, – Thompson recalls.

My family was quite liberal. The parents did not say: Hey, you're a kid, go to bed or You are a child, your opinion does not interest anyone.

But liberal education in the family could not protect the girl from the cruel outside world, in particular, the attacks of racists. When Tessa was 7, a younger girl who played with Thompson on the playground called her a nigger for the first time.

Once, her mum, who worked in the Los Angeles City Hall, sent her daughter to a privileged private school. Among the students, there were only 4 dark-skinned children, including Tess. Because of the incessant mockery of her classmates, for a long time, the girl begged her mother to go to an ordinary public school. The public school seemed another world – there were 4 thousand students with different skin color, religion, and beliefs, as well as the Club of Racial Harmony, where older students told newcomers about the dangers of racial stereotypes.

The height of Tessa Thompson is 162 cm

Thompson was educated at Santa Monica College, where she studied cultural anthropology. As an applicant, she dreamed of a career in the Peace Corps, but in college, she became interested in theater and decided to become an actress.

Her Acting Career

The girl made her first professional stage debut in 2000. In Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company, she acted in the play The Tempest.

Tessa Thompson has a beautiful figure

For the first time, Tessa was on the set in 2005, starring as a bootlegging lesbian in one of the episodes of the TV series Cold Case. This was followed by her role in the horror movie When a Stranger Calls, which was not too successful.

Over the next 10 years, she got dozens of roles in TV series and movies. The emphasis in her characters was always put on their race, despite Tessa wanted it or not. For example, in 2006, Thompson was cast Jackie Cook, a girlfriend of the main character, in the teenage detective series Veronica Mars, but she was quickly taken out of the script because of the audience’s dissatisfaction. According to the creators, Tessa’s character was a stereotypical dark-skinned girl, probably, it annoyed everyone, – the actress said.

Tessa Thompson in the TV series Veronica Mars

In 2006, the actress starred in two episodes of the popular medical series Gray's Anatomy (Season 2) and in the thriller The Initiation of Sarah. In 2007, the best role for Tessa was the role of Nikki Barnes, a girl of Johnny Miller (Taylor Handley), in the TV series Hidden Palms. The following year, the actress could be seen in supporting roles in the movie The Human Contract.

In 2008, she starred in the dancing movie Make It Happen, where the main roles were played by Tessa and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. This was followed by the drama Mississippi Damned, a movie about the family of black farmers from the South who had suffered from racial discrimination for a long time.

Tessa Thompson in the movie Make It Happen

Her character is a brilliant pianist who finally breaks through the age-old tradition of humiliation. Although the jury of independent movie festival Slamdance found it strange that such a role was given to the most light-skinned of the cast – did the directors mock the dark-skinned people in such a way? Anyway, this movie brought Tess Thompson Best Actress Award at the American Black Film Festival. She was very proud of it.

In 2010, the actress acted in Tyler Perry's stage play adaptation For Colored Girls, after which she was invited to star in the movie. Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad, Thandie Newton, Loretta Devine, Anika Noni Rose, Kimberly Elise, and Kerry Washington also starred in Perry’s movie about the life and fate of nine different African-American women. For her role, Tessa received the Black Reel Awards for Best Breakthrough Performance.

Tessa Thompson likes photo shoots

In 2012, the actress starred as Sarah Freeman, a wife of Dr. Matthew Freeman, in the TV series Copper. Tessa’s character appeared in 22 episodes of the series. In 2014-2015, Thompson mainly starred in feature movies. There are Dear White People, a comedy about four black students in the Ivy League college, and Selma, a biopic about the civil rights movement of black citizens in the USA.

For her role as singer Bianca in the sports drama Creed with Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone in the lead roles, Tessa received the award for Best Supporting Actress from the African-American Film Critics Association. The film was warmly met by the audience, which was unusual for such restarts of the old stories.

Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson in the movie Creed

In November 2016, the black comedy War on Everyone (directed by Anglo-Irish director John Michael McDonagh) with an interesting cast of actors was released. In addition to Thompson, the Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgard, Mexican Michael Pena and Englishman Theo James starred in this movie.

Tessa Thompson in the movie War on Everyone

Around the same time, a few episodes of Westworld with Tessa in the role of Charlotte Hale, Executive Director of the Delos Destinations Board, were released.

Tessa Thompson in the TV series Westworld

In April 2017, the audience watched Bruce Isakson’s drama, South Dakota, with Thompson, who played a teenager who found out about her pregnancy after a brutal rape.

A few months later, Tessa starred in the video for the rapper Jay-Z for the song Moonlight.

On November 3, 2017, it was a premiere of the fifth film of the third phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Thor: Ragnarok. In the movie, Tessa played one of the Valkyries of the legendary squad of female fighters who had died from the goddess Hela in the defense of Asgard. Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum and Mark Ruffalo were Thompson’s colleagues on the set.

Tessa Thompson starred as Valkyrie in the movie Thor: Ragnarok

2018 was marked by the release of a number of movies with Tessa: Annihilation (directed by Alex Garland), Sorry to Bother You (directed by Boots Riley), and Little Woods (directed by Nia DaCosta). Also the actress back again to the role of the Valkyrie, which has made her famous, in the movie Avengers: Endgame which premiered in 2019.

Other Projects

In 2014, she recorded several songs for the soundtrack to the movie Dear White People with her band Caught A Ghost. Their work can be attributed to the genre of soul music. She also starred as a singer in Creed.

Tessa Thompson - GRIP

In addition, the actress dances very well. You can see it in the video for Janelle Monáe’s song Yoga, where Tess plays a cameo.

Personal Life of Tess Thompson

There are suggestions that some time Tessa has dated the American actor Ben Crawley, but the couple has not officially confirmed the rumors. Apparently, Thompson’s heart is still free now.

Tessa Thompson and Ben Crawley

In 2018, Tessa Thompson came out and confessed to being bisexual. In the same year, rumors appeared in the media about her possible romance with the singer Janelle Monet, but Tessa carefully hides the truth about her relationship.

Tessa Thompson and Janelle Monet

Tessa Thompson Now

In 2019, the premiere of the next part of the fantastic comedy film "Men in Black: International" took place. In it, Tessa played Agent M. The actress's partners on the set were Chris Hemsworth and Liam Neeson.

«Men in Black: International», trailer

In the same year, the premiere of the re-launched cartoon "Lady and the Tramp" took place. It turned into a full-length movie, and Thompson played the role of Lady in it. The premiere of the film "Sylvie's Love" is scheduled for 2020, where Tessa Thompson will play the role of Sylvie.

Terry Carter

In Thor, Thompson was at her best, I only admired her. I wish you further creative success :)

2021-05-19 13:56:14
Zachary Hayden Jackson

I have never heard of actress Tessa Thompson, but after reading the biography, I would like to see «Westworld».

2021-04-17 14:25:10
Karen Holmes

Exactly, I saw Tessa in the series Grey`s Anatomy, I finally remembered...

2021-03-25 20:48:08
Steven Mason Lopez

And I liked the series «Veronica Mars» with Thompson. I don’t understand where so much negativity comes from?

2021-03-13 10:56:16
Carrie Martin

Talented right from childhood, I really like the appearance of Tessa Thompson.

2021-02-17 23:11:45

Photos: Tessa Thompson