Mary Frances Thompson Fisher (December 3, 1895 – October 26, 1995), best known as Te Ata, was an American actress, centenarian and citizen of the Chickasaw Nation known for telling Native American stories. She performed as a representative of Native Americans at state dinners before President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s. She was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1957 and was named Oklahoma's first State Treasure in 1987.

Her stage name, Te Ata, means "Bearer of the morning". Some Chickasaw speakers ^[who?] say that her name originates from "itti' hata'", an old word meaning sycamore, birch, or cottonwood, and that, in order to further accentuate her name, she changed it to "Te Ata".^{[citation needed]}

Te Ata was born Mary Frances Thompson in Emet, Chickasaw Nation (now in Johnston County, Oklahoma), to Thomas Benjamin Thompson, a Chickasaw, and Bertie (Freund) Thompson a German American. The name "Te Ata" is the Māori (New Zealand Indigenous) word for "the morning". It was given to her by an unknown person. "Te Ata" is not a Chickasaw word nor phrase. Te Ata began her early education in a one-room tribal school; after two years she was sent to Bloomfield Academy, a Chickasaw boarding school for girls. At Bloomfield, she met Muriel Wright, a teacher who became her role model. Te Ata graduated high school from Tishomingo, Oklahoma, where she was salutatorian. She is listed a 1/8th Chickasaw by Blood on the Dawes Rolls.

In the fall of 1915, Te Ata began college at the Oklahoma College for Women (now the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma) in Chickasha, and graduated in 1919. During her time at Oklahoma College for Women, she worked as an assistant in the theater department for theater instructor Frances Dinsmore Davis. It was during this time that Te Ata was first introduced to the stage.

Davis encouraged Te Ata to use Native American stories as the basis for her senior performance at Oklahoma College for Women. Te Ata made her debut as an artist during her senior year of college performing songs and stories from several different tribes. The debut was well-received, and she was asked to perform at the University of Oklahoma and various other institutions.

Upon graduation, Te Ata was offered a part in a traveling Chautauqua circuit by Thurlow Lieurance, who had been in the audience at her senior performance. The tour gave Te Ata an opportunity to travel across the United States and fostered her talents as a performer. She undertook further training in theatre at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She then moved to New York City, where she performed in several Broadway productions; her most notable role was Andromache in The Trojan Women. She eventually decided to concentrate on her one-woman performances of Native American songs and stories. In 1928, while living in New York City, she shared an apartment with Chickasaw educator and performer Mary Stone McLendon. She referred to McLendon as her "cousin", however it is unknown whether they were actually related or whether they knew each other prior to living in New York City.

Eleanor Roosevelt, whose husband, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was then governor of New York, invited Te Ata to perform at the governor's mansion. After Franklin was elected president, Te Ata performed at the White House for his first state dinner. In 1939, Te Ata performed at Hyde Park for the Roosevelts and the visiting King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, who were visiting the United States. The King and Queen then invited Te Ata to perform in England.

In addition to traveling across the United States, Te Ata visited Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Finland, England, Peru, Guatemala, Canada, and Mexico.