Andra Akers

Andra Akers was an American character actress and philanthropist who was born in New York City and usually played tough or brassy roles in films, theater and television. While living in New Zealand, she studied at Victoria University of Wellington and acted in a 1962 staging of Chekhov's The Seagull. She went on to Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York, where she studied theater and political science. Her first screen appearance came in Brian de Palma's 1968 film Murder a la Mod. She worked in film, theater and television from the 1960s into the mid-1980s, with several guest spots on popular television series. She left acting in 1986 and started Synergy International, which became the Essence Institute; it was an interdisciplinary think tank that involved mathematicians, computer scientists, video and electronic artists and others. She died in 2002.