Many of the characters played by the actress Tessa Thompson, 42, keep trying to assert their power in hostile environments. For her breakout role in Justin Simien’s 2014 film, “Dear White People,” she appears as Samantha White, a strident student activist calling out racist transgressions and perceived slights on a college campus while attempting to forge solidarity among the university’s Black population. In Boots Riley’s sci-fi comedy “Sorry to Bother You” (2018), she’s an artist confronting a sinister megacorporation. Raised between Los Angeles and Brooklyn, Thompson performed in productions at Santa Monica High School. October saw the release of “Hedda,” in which she plays a 1950s version of Hedda Gabler in a film adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s 1891 play. Directed by Nia DaCosta and produced in part by Thompson through her company, Viva Maude, “Hedda” is set amid a rambunctious house party at the English countryside estate where Gabler and her husband live. The socialite hurtles toward a meltdown as she manipulates friends, foes and exes in a scheme to maintain her lifestyle.
11 5 2025