{"id":48716,"date":"2016-08-17T14:01:41","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T14:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=48716"},"modified":"2016-08-17T14:12:47","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T14:12:47","slug":"how-tessa-thompson-became-a-modern-marvel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=48716","title":{"rendered":"How Tessa Thompson Became A Modern Marvel"},"content":{"rendered":"

How Tessa Thompson Became A Modern Marvel<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

BuzzFeed<\/a>
\n2016-07-20<\/p>\n

Anita Badejo<\/strong><\/a>, Associate Features Editor<\/p>\n

At a time when Hollywood<\/a> is finally developing the kinds of projects for actors of color that had traditionally been out of reach, Tessa Thompson\u2019s<\/a> ascent to the A-list<\/a> isn\u2019t just welcome \u2014 it\u2019s necessary. How can she embody this pivotal cultural moment without being defined by it?<\/em><\/p>\n

Tessa Thompson<\/a> has a problem. \u201cI really like to be good at things,\u201d she says, reclining in a rich brown leather chair in the Library bar of Manhattan\u2019s<\/a> NoMad Hotel<\/a>. It\u2019s a Sunday afternoon in March, and Thompson is wearing a sheer black blouse with gold-chained collar pins and high-waisted acid-wash jeans. \u201cIt\u2019s an impediment sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea that the 32-year-old could be impeded by anything seems unlikely. In the past two years, she has been touted as Hollywood\u2019s Next Big Thing<\/a> based on performances in films such as the indie darling Dear White People<\/em><\/a>, the historical drama Selma<\/em><\/a>, and November\u2019s box office hit Creed<\/em><\/a>, and she has parlayed those successes into at least three potentially life-changing upcoming roles. \u201cTo be really bad in the beginning and to risk being bad every time and just continually be compelled to want to be good and better?\u201d she says, her Ts aspirated in the manner of a lifelong performer. \u201cActing is the only thing I was able to push through that.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, as Thompson acknowledges, the roles she\u2019s had a particular knack for so far have tackled complicated issues of race and gender \u2014 all befitting the multiracial actress, who peppers her musings with references to everyone from bell hooks<\/a> to Laurence Olivier<\/a>. \u201cWhatever alchemy it is, those are the kind of parts that I\u2019m going to be better at.\u201d…<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How Tessa Thompson Became A Modern Marvel BuzzFeed 2016-07-20 Anita Badejo, Associate Features Editor At a time when Hollywood is finally developing the kinds of projects for actors of color that had traditionally been out of reach, Tessa Thompson\u2019s ascent to the A-list isn\u2019t just welcome \u2014 it\u2019s necessary. How can she embody this pivotal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,24,8,20],"tags":[24789,13345,19672],"class_list":["post-48716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-arts","category-media-archive","category-usa","tag-anita-badejo","tag-buzzfeed","tag-tessa-thompson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48716"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48718,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48716\/revisions\/48718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}