Afro-Latin actress Tessa Thompson saves the world in "Men in Black: International"

Tessa Thompson considers herself Afro-Latina, a black woman, a person of color and Latinx. But when fans go to see the hit movie "Men in Black: International" this weekend, she hopes they'll only see her character, Agent M, on the big screen.

"I hope we can go to Hollywood places where it's not remarkable for a woman, and especially a woman of color, to be at the forefront of a family." franchise film, "said NBC News Thompson, of Afro-Panamanian and Mexican descent. "I hope we can come to a place where we will not have to congratulate or comment on it because it happens so often. But we are still very far from it.

Men in Black: International, Agent M and Agent H (played by Chris Hemsworth) are part of a global mission that will take viewers on a fun and exciting adventure across Western Europe and Northern Ontario. 'Africa. save the world.

Fans first meet M like six year old Molly, who has an unexpected encounter with an alien. This exposes it to a new world inhabited by supernatural beings. And after Men in Black erased the memory of his parents, M devoted his life to finding the organization and seeking the truth.

"The memory is huge for M," said Thompson. "She does not want to live in the lie, and she thinks that because this organization is [Men in Black] this can go to erase memories, the only way to relive the truth in terms of the universe and its foundations is to be part of this organization. "

While playing Agent M, the acclaimed actress critically exploited her gender and ethnicity to understand what motivated and tested her character.

"If you're a woman, and especially a woman of color, and you're trying to access a historically white and masculine space, you have to work harder," Thompson said. "It was an inspiration to me when I thought of M because she is so ambitious. She wants to be good, but she also knows that she must be good, especially if she wants to go where she wants to go.

While agents face a new extraterrestrial threat that can take different forms, Thompson says the film stays true to the values ​​encoded in the franchise's DNA and defuses tensions between humans and extraterrestrials, insiders and outsiders, us and them.

"The first films show us that whatever our differences, we can learn to live together. We can learn to live in harmony, "said Thompson. "And this film encourages curiosity about fear, the idea of ​​not being afraid of others."

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