She was best mates with civil rights leaders Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr, shared a home with Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols and directed a groundbreaking film on Indigenous Theatre, but now Glebe woman Andreea Kindryd just wants to be a grandma.
The 85-year-old’s early life was shaped by the racial tensions of the 1950s and ’60s. Born in San Diego and raised in Los Angeles she was studying broadcasting at university when she was introduced to activist Malcolm X, the then spokesman for the Nation of Islam.
“Malcolm X became a dear friend,” she told Central News, recounting their late-night conversations.
“He was inquisitive. He’d stop you mid-sentence to ask what a word meant, and then minutes later, he’d be using it perfectly.”
Kindryd’s growing discomfort over inequality in America pushed her into activism, leading to unforgettable experiences with many key figures of the civil rights movement.
“When segregation started to heat up, I knew something wasn’t right,” she said, but spoke with warmth and humour despite the political turmoil.
Her most striking memory of Martin Luther King Jr is not what many people would expect.
“He told a dirty joke,” she laughed. “I was so shocked, and he teased me for blushing.”
Kindryd’s office showcases photos, memorabilia, and a lifetime of achievements
But Kindryd’s connections weren’t limited to activism.
By the late 1960s, she had moved to Hollywood, securing a position as an executive secretary on the original TV show Star Trek.
“I didn’t think about it as breaking barriers,” she said. “But it was groundbreaking in a way. There weren’t many women like me in those spaces.”
She became good friends with Nichelle Nichols, the trailblazing actress who played Lieutenant Uhura, and who became her housemate for a while and a means of support for both her personal and professional career, backing one another as black women in an overwhelmingly white and male industry.
“Nichelle wasn’t afraid to speak her mind,” Kindryd recalled fondly.
While Star Trek marked Kindryd’s debut in the entertainment world, her life took an unexpected turn when she moved to Australia in the early 1970s.
“I didn’t plan on staying, but something kept me here,” she said.
Once she arrived in Redfern, she settled in, surrounding herself with the Indigenous community, and opening up her understanding of the struggle, similar to the one back home.
“There are similarities in how dark-skinned people are treated, but the difference is — this is their country,” she said. “They weren’t dragged away like we were.
“The trauma is different but still profound.”
Laughter heals. It saved me when I didn’t think I could survive.
Her film Tjintu Pakani: Sunrise Awakening was one of the first works to capture the rise of Aboriginal performing arts in Australia. Directed and produced by her, it documents the first national Aboriginal performing arts workshop at the Black Theatre Arts and Culture Centre in Redfern, which has since been demolished.
The film was initially created for local screenings, but due to its cultural significance, it has since been restored by the National Film and Sound Archive 50 years later and is now screened in various locations worldwide.
Amid these many career milestones, Kindryd faced a devastating loss — the suicide of her daughter — which led her to seek solace in comedy, and she began performing stand-up at the Friend in Hand pub in Glebe.
Humour became a tool for healing.
“Laughter heals,” she said. “It saved me when I didn’t think I could survive.”
Now, Kindryd has turned to storytelling to fulfil her “Granny responsibility”.
“AJ (her grandson) wanted to know where he came from and who his people were.. Chris (her grandson) asked how I met Malcolm X, Janina (her granddaughter) queried why she never saw me on Star Trek,” she writes in her recent memoir From Slavery to the Stars.
“One person can make a difference,” she said. “That’s the message I want people to take from my book.”
Main image of Andreea Kindryd by Yasmin Burazer.
