Tonya Mosley

This is Fresh Air.

I'm Tanya Mosley.

Today, my guest is actor and producer Tessa Thompson.

Many of the characters she's played share something in common.

They're public-facing but privately conflicted, grappling with visibility, identity, and control over their own lives.

She starred as the warrior Valkyrie in the Marvel Universe, the musician Bianca in the Creed franchise, civil rights strategist Diane Nash in Selma,

a woman navigating the fraught boundaries of racial identity in the film Passing, and a biracial college student wrestling with racial politics and dear white people.

And this Sunday, she's up for a Golden Globe, nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture for her portrayal of Hedda, Nia DaCosta's reimagining of Henrik Ibsen's classic play.

Tessa is also starring in a new murder mystery, the Netflix limited series His and Hers.

She plays a once-prominent news anchor who returns to the small Georgia town where she grew up after a murder pulls her back into the spotlight.

And the detective leading the case is her estranged husband.

It doesn't take long for them to realize that they're both hiding something.

There are at least two signs to every story.

The series is adapted from Alice Feeney's bestselling novel and is structured around competing versions of the truth.

Tessa Thompson, welcome to Fresh Air.

Am I right that this is your first lead in a murder mystery?

Yeah, I hadn't thought about that until just now.

You're very intentional in the roles that you choose.

I think that most actors are, but there is something that is very specific.

I talked about it a little bit in the intro.