The hospital drama Grey’s Anatomy has seen several famous guest stars throughout its 19-season run, and Tessa Thompson appeared in a few episodes in season 2. Thompson became well-known for playing Valkyrie in the MCU and for her memorable roles in dramatic films, from Bianca Taylor in the Creed franchise to Diane Nash in Selma. While she has had smaller parts in TV series such as a woman with invisible powers in Heroes and a PR consultant in 666 Park Avenue, her turn as villain Charlotte Hale/Dolores Abernathy in Westworld was an exciting departure from her other roles. Thompson’s characters are always powerful and smart.

Before being cast in Grey’s Anatomy in a guest role, Thompson played Jill Johnson’s (Camilla Belle) best friend Scarlett in the 2006 slasher remake When A Stranger Calls, which was her first film role. The actor had a few prior TV appearances, guest-starring in one episode of Cold Case in 2005 and playing Veronica’s (Kristen Bell) classmate Jackie Cook in Veronica Mars. Thompson was not very well-known yet at the time of her Grey’s role and would become more recognizable with the 2014 movie Dear White People, although she has continued to act steadily throughout her career. Her Grey’s Anatomy character had a brief but emotional impact on the series.

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Tessa Thompson Played Camille Travis In Grey’s Anatomy

Tessa Thompson played Richard Webber’s (James Pickens Jr.) niece Camille Travis in two Grey’s Anatomy season 2 episodes. In season 2, episode 26, “Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response,” Camille arrives at the hospital after having sex with her boyfriend Brian (Charles Duckworth) at their high school prom. For Richard, who had a key storyline in season 18, it’s one of his most emotional plotlines as Camille is only 14 and suffers from ovarian cancer. The doctors take out one ovary so she can still conceive in the future but she returns in season 4 and realizes that her cancer has spread and she will not make it.

Tessa Thompson’s Grey’s Anatomy Character Inspires The Interns To Work Together And Take Care Of Their Patients

Since Camille faints at her prom and doesn’t have the happy, high school experience that she deserves, Richard asks the interns to plan a prom at the hospital. Camille helps the characters realize that while solving medical cases and saving people is their mission, they also need to have emotion and empathy for the patients they are helping and make their time in the hospital brighter. This is an important lesson for the interns on Grey’s Anatomy as they tend to become caught up in competition and impressing others with their medical discoveries and clever research. They need to slow down and appreciate life in the meantime.

Camille Travis was recast when she appears again in season 4, episode 4 “The Heart of the Matter” and played by Camille Winbush, known for The Bernie Mac Show and The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Shortly after her role in Grey’s Anatomy, Thompson starred in Private Practice as Zoe Salter, a woman who is pregnant with Amelia Sawyer’s (Robin Weigert) baby after their embryos were accidentally switched. Thompson’s performance is just as emotionally heavy there and both Camille and Zoe find themselves in frightening medical situations that they never would have anticipated. In both cases, they experience the kindness, compassion, and expertise of the doctors around them.