Dana Michelle Plato was born in Maywood, California, on Saturday, November 7, 1964. Dana made an impact on the TV screen when she landed the role of Kimberly Drummond in the TV hit sitcom Diffrent Strokes (1978) from 1978-1986. After the series ended, Dana had difficulty finding more acting work. Sometimes she would act in a made-for-TV movie or a low- budget silver-screen film. She was married for Lanny Lambert for seven years and they had a son.Plato was arrested in 1991 for robbing a Las Vegas video store and placed on probation; the next year she was arrested again, this time for forging a Valium prescription. She had just finished an interview with Howard Stern in the spring of 1999 when she and her fiancé, Robert Menchaca, were headed back to California. She hoped the interview would revive her stalled career. They stopped at his parents house in Moore, Oklahoma for a Mothers-Day-weekend visit; on Saturday, May 8, 1999, Dana died of what appeared to be an accidental overdose of the painkiller Loritab. On May 21, a coroners inquest ruled her death a suicide because of the large amount of drugs in her body and her history of past suicide attempts. She was 34 years old.
Film 1997
Piano Teacher's Wife (archive footage) (uncredited)
Film 2000
Dana Fields
Film 1995
Kelly
Film 2018
J.D.
Film 1992
Jill Martin
Film 1998
Daisy Dallenger
Film 1980
Andrea Baker
Film 1997
Evie Jo
Film 1977
Pacifica
Film 1995
Film 1994
Self (archive footage)
Film 2020
Dana Plato
Film 1998
Herself
Film 1998
Daughter
Film 1982
Diana Masters
Film 1989
Cara Ames
Film 1983
Wendy
Film 1975
Deborah Nichols
Film 1992
Sandra Phalor (uncredited)
Film 1977
Prosecuting Attorney
Film 2002
Leslie
Film 1998
Elizabeth
Film 1995
Archive footage
Film 2024
Lisa
Tv 1985
Dana Plato
Tv 1977
Tv 1979
Kimberly Drummond
Tv 1978
Tv 1996
Debbie
Tv 1976
Girl on the Tennis Court
Tv 1974
Kimberly Drummond
Tv 1979