Tessa Lynne Thompson (born October 3, 1983) is an American actress and musician. She played Jackie Cook on the film noir television series Veronica Mars, Sara Freeman in the period crime drama Copper, Nyla Adrose in the film For Colored Girls, civil rights activist Diane Nash in Selma, and starred as Samantha White in Dear White People. She also played Bianca in the Rocky franchise film Creed. Tessa was involved early with the Rock sequel Creed's preparation in order to write music for her character Binca Göransson."We spent two weeks in Los Angeles in a studio basically writing from morning until night," said Thompson. "It was cool and also gave me insight on [Bianca's] musical abilities, which is something I dabbled in." Three tracks featuring Thompson are included in the film: "Grip", "Breathe", and "Shed You". Tessa has also produced music as part of the electro band Caught A Ghost. The band provided songs for the film Dear White People, in which she also starred.