By Julio Martinez
Bronx-born actress Eileen Galindo has enjoyed a varied career, working in live theater, television, film, including working in the lucrative world of voiceovers. All her work has lead to some interesting projects this year.
At an early age, Galindo yearned to be “part of something” in show business. However, her family, who had emigrated from Cuba by way of Miami, had no connections whatsoever to the entertainment industry.
After working and studying in New York, Galindo became involved in the non-traditional casting movement putting herself on the picket lines to encourage Broadway producers to endorse diversity in casting. She also took up writing and did two one-woman shows Off-Broadway, one of them directed by Wynn Handman.
Moving to Los Angeles, Galindo landed in the Mark Taper Forum repertory company. “We did some wonderful work at the Forum when Gordon Davidson was running the joint,” she recalled. “I was in The House of Bernarda Alba, starring Chita Rivera and Culture Clash‘s Chavez Ravine in 2003. In 2010, Galindo was nominated for the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Performance in The Clean House at International City Theatre in Long Beach.
Currently, Galindo is part of the Oscar buzz euphoria. She co-starred in the short film The Letter Room which has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. Ex Machina’s Oscar Isaac plays the lead in the short, which is directed and executive produced by Elvira Lind, Isaac’s wife, and collaborator.
The Letter Room is a dark prison comedy about the secret life of a correctional officer who gets transferred to a job in the letter room. “I play Irene, the prison’s warden,” Galindo explains. “Elvira was inspired to write the film when she reflected on the isolated, single 40-something-year-old men she came in contact with while in Denmark,” she goes on to explain. “These men lived solitary lives. They never married and never had children. The film does go into the loneliness that exists in these facilities.”
The Letter Room was filmed at the Arthur Kill Correctional facility in Staten Island, a decommissioned prison with all the required “barbed wire, the cells, everything,” Galindo recalled.
The film screened at various film festivals around the U.S. to critical acclaim and In March 2021 they learned it had been nominated for an Oscar. “As we all know, getting features made in Hollywood is not an easy thing, especially by a woman,” Galindo explained. “So Elvira decided to start with a short, if that graduates to something bigger and better, that would be great.”
Galindo exudes a refreshing optimism, especially in light of the current restrictive times. “Well, I’ve been working,” she laughs. She is currently recurring on the second season of the CBS All Access hit series Why Women Kill, created and produced by Marc Cherry. He also created Desperate Housewives and Devious Maids. Galindo plays Isabel, Rita’s maid, played by series regular Lana Padilla. “I am encouraged because All Access has morphed into a more significant, better thing called Paramount Plus, a streaming network that doesn’t just include CBS programming but also has Paramount content, Nickelodeon, MTV, all sorts of things.
Why Women Kill is an anthology series, and each season does not pick up from the previous season left off. Galindo clarifies. “This year, it takes place in 1949 Hollywood, exploring the façades people hide behind and the lengths they go to to be accepted and be part of something.” We’re all doing double-duty. As for now, we are Why Women Kill. David Warren is our producing director. Lana, a Puerto Rican and Italian from Brooklyn, is a joy to work with.”
Looking towards the future, Galindo is wrapping up her work on Why Women Kill and looking forward to its premiere within a few months. However, the 93rd Academy Awards is what she is anxiously waiting for. April 25 will be the date she can finally say (or not) she worked in an Academy award-winning film. As Galindo often says, “Well see.”