Tessa Lynne Thompson is an American actress, producer, singer, and songwriter born on October 3, 1983. She began her professional acting career with the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company during her studies at Santa Monica College.
Thompson started her career with roles in productions of The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet, the latter earning her a NAACP Theatre Award nomination. Her breakthrough came with leading roles in Tina Mabry's independent drama film Mississippi Damned in 2009 and Tyler Perry's drama film For Colored Girls in 2010.
Born in Los Angeles and raised between Los Angeles and Brooklyn, New York, Thompson's father, Marc Anthony Thompson, is a singer-songwriter of Afro-Panamanian descent and founder of the musical collective Chocolate Genius, Inc. Her mother has white and Mexican ancestry. She has a younger half-sister, Zsela, who is a singer and songwriter.
Tessa attended Santa Monica High School, where she played Hermia in a student production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. She then attended Santa Monica College, studying cultural anthropology and becoming a member of the alma mater. During her time at SMC, she attended lectures by Lisa Wolpe of the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company.
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