American actress Tessa Thompson was BOTD in 1983. Born in Los Angeles, California to musician parents, she grew up in Los Angeles and New York. She began acting in high school, attending Santa Monica College where she joined the Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company. After a series of well-reviewed performances in Shakespeare‘s The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, she made her screen debut in TV crime drama Cold Case, playing a lesbian bootlegger. She became a series regular in TV dramas Veronica Mars and Grey’s Anatomy, with supporting roles in the films Dear White People, the Martin Luther King biopic Selma and the boxing drama Creed. Her breakthrough came with a starring role in the 2016 sci-fi TV drama series Westworld. Lured back to Hollywood, she spent many years in the comic superhero universe, with roles in Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Endgame, Thor: Love and Thunder and Men in Black: International, followed by the sci-fi horror films Sorry to Bother You and Annihilation and the romantic drama Sylvie’s Love. In 2020, she starred in Rebecca Hall’s 2020 film Passing, based on Nella Larsen‘s novella about an African-American woman in 1920s Harlem whose childhood friend is passing as white. Leaning into the story’s complex racial politics and undercurrent of suppressed lesbian desire, Thompson’s work was highly praised, earning several industry award nominations. Her recent work includes a solo performance in the drama film The Listener, and the title role in a contemporary adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler. Thompson describes herself as being attracted to men and women, though dislikes the term “bisexual”, and was in a three-year relationship with singer-actress Janelle Monáe. She is reportedly dating Brandon Green, the son of British fashion tycoon Sir Philip Green.