Kristy was born in Auckland, New Zealand. She is of Maori descent, her iwi is Ngati Haua. She began performing as a tap dancer and child actor in theatre and went on to study at WPAC. Kristy has worked both in-front and behind the camera on various productions including Grey's Anatomy (2005) and the Cannes nominated film Still Waters (2011). Kristy features in the award winning spot for Parkinson's Disease by director David Denneen and is in the latest TSB Bank, Amazon, Coca-Cola and Qantas commercials.