Bio
Tessa Thompson is an American actress and singer best known for her role as Jackie Cook on the teen drama television series Veronica Mars, from 2005-2006.
She also starred as Sara Freeman on the period drama television series Copper, from 2012-2013.
Thompson is a Los Angeles native who was raised part-time in Brooklyn, New York. She was drawn to the theatre at an early age, but made her professional debut at 18 playing Juliet in Romeo and Juliet: Antebellum New Orleans 1836 (The Theatre at Boston Court) for which she received an NAACP Image Award nomination.
After appearing in countless other productions, she then appeared in the American premiere of David Grieg's Pyrenees, opposite Frances Conroy and Tom Irwin, for Center Theatre Group at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.
On television she has been a series regular on Veronica Mars and Hidden Palms, and has had recurring roles on Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, Private Practice, Off the Map, and Detroit 1-8-7.
Other television credits include Rizzoli & Isles, Three Rivers, Life, Mental, and Cold Case.
In film, Thompson starred in the multi award-winning drama Mississippi Damned, for which she was awarded a Grand Jury prize for Best Actress. She also starred in the film adaptation of Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls (Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf) starring opposite Thandie Newton and Whoopi Goldberg.
Thompson is a member of celebrated classical theatre company Antaeus and sings in the indie-soul band Caught a Ghost.