'Thor' Star Tessa Thompson: 'Pressure Is Intensified Where Sexual Orientation Is Concerned'

Movie star Tessa Thompson has seamlessly moved from small screen roles to a leading role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She has proven herself to be a bundle of talent in a short time, immersing each role with great acting chops, genuine emotions, and humor. 

She kicked off her acting career with "Veronica Mars" and "Grey's Anatomy" and proceeded to give a jaw-dropping performance as Sam White in the 2014 indie movie "Dear White People." Three years after, she bagged the part of the openly bisexual character Valkyrie in "Thor: Ragnarok." This earned her the honor of playing the first LGBTQ superhero in a Marvel movie.

She also reprised the same role in the latest Thor flick, "Thor: Love And Thunder," and recently shared that it had been a tremendous honor to empower her LGBTQ fans to come out.

Read on for more details.

The 38-year-old actress has shared that it had been a 'tremendous feeling' to empower her LGBTQ fans to come out regarding their sexuality.

"That's been tremendous," Thompson shared on Variety's Just For Variety Podcast. "I've had so many folks write to me and say that they were able to come out or to talk to their family, which is a dream."

She also added about the on-screen representation, noting the power of inclusion.

"There is something powerful about seeing an image of yourself reflected in any way. But we know some ways matter because we don't have enough of it."

In addition, Thompson shared that she felt extremely lucky to be in spaces where she was able to be herself in Hollywood– an industry that isn't so open about owning one's sexuality.

"It's a real problem," she began, per People. 'I feel really lucky in the sense that I work in real proximity to people that I think want to advocate for me to be myself and be the fullest expression of myself. I think the industry at large might put a tremendous amount of pressure, never mind their sexuality, but a real pressure, I think, to be a certain kind of thing. And I think that's intensified particularly where sexual orientation is concerned, and that's a real problem."

Thompson came out in an interview with Porter after fans began speculations about her rumored relationship with Janelle Monae after appearing in her "PYNK" music video.

"We're so close; we vibrate on the same frequency. If people want to speculate about what we are, it doesn't bother me," she shared at the time.

Thompson also spoke about familial support; she described her family as warm and accepting. 

"In my family, you can be anything you want to be," she admitted in 2018. "I'm attracted to men and also to women. If I bring a woman home, [or] a man, we don't even have to have the discussion."

Thompson added, "I want everyone else to have that freedom and support that I have from my loved ones. But so many people don't. So, do I have a responsibility to talk about that? Do I have a responsibility to say in a public space that this is my person?" 

In a recent interview with Yahoo, she clamored for more queer representation in movie spaces.

"We talked about it a lot; it was a big topic of conversation. Because I think there's this real want in audiences to see characters be very queer or LGBTQIA inside these spaces. And I think it's hugely important to have representation."

She also spoke about her character's love life, adding that she didn't feel her character was allowed to exist in her humanity.

"I think a part of being able to normalize queer characters, LBGTQIA characters, is to allow them to exist in their humanity. That doesn't always mean that they're in love or a partnership because plenty of us know that sometimes you're not," she concluded.

The movie, released on July 8, featured the long-awaited return of Natalie Portman's character, Jane, who evolves into Mighty Thor.

Thor, Korg (Waititi), Mighty Thor, and Valkyrie later go on a mission to stop Gorr the God Butcher from butchering gods.

However, Thompson admitted that there wasn't enough room to explore Valkyrie's love life meaningfully. "It becomes the only storyline, particularly in a movie like this where you don't have a lot of room for the storyline."

She concluded, "I hope we have a lot of time to explore her, in all of her humanity. But whether or not she finds love in this movie doesn't mean she's not still a fabulous queer character that is open to finding love when it makes sense."