Tessa Thompson on Being a Black Woman Protagonist in Hollywood
There are many paths Tessa Thompson could have taken in Hollywood, but now celebrating the release of her second Thor film, she's grateful for the one she's chosen.
The actress—and Harper's BAZAAR cover star—entered the Hollywood spotlight with roles in films such as Avengers, Annihilation, and Men in Black, and TV show Westworld. In the second, she plays Josie Radek, a depressive, intense astrophysicist, while in MIB, she plays powerful and super-cool investigator Molly, who pairs up with Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) to solve a high-profile murder case.
"I feel really lucky in my career to have gotten to play the kind of protagonist as a Black woman that we don’t necessarily always see," Thompson says.
Her commitment to diversity in the film industry spans beyond the way she chooses her acting roles. Last year, Thompson launched Viva Maude, a production company dedicated to developing "inclusive stories with inventive creators." Its announced projects include adaptations of Who Fears Death, the critically acclaimed Africanfuturist novel by Nnedi Okorafor, and The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, the 2020 National Book Awards finalist by Deesha Philyaw. There are also plans for an HBO series based on Luster, the sensational debut novel by Raven Leilani about a Black New York City woman who involves herself in a couple's open marriage.
"How do we create worlds where the kind of protagonists that we don’t often get to see get to take up space?" Thompson muses. As an actor and producer, she wants "folks of color" and those who are "queer" or otherwise "marginalized inside of Hollywood" to be put on the big screen, front and center.
This year, Thompson herself continues to be a protagonist. The star returns as Valkyrie in the newly-released Marvel film Thor: Love and Thunder, opposite Hemsworth.
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