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 Diff'rent 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 Mother's-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 coroner's 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.
2024
as Archive footage
2020
as Self (archive footage)
2018
as Kelly
2002
as Prosecuting Attorney
2000
as Piano Teacher's Wife (archive footage) (uncredited)
1998
as Jill Martin
1998
as Dana Plato
1998
as Herself
1998
as Leslie
1997
1997
as Andrea Baker
1996
1995
as Elizabeth
1995
as Dana Fields
1995
as Pacifica
1994
1992
as J.D.
1992
as Deborah Nichols
1989
as Diana Masters
1985
as Lisa
1983
as Cara Ames
1982
as Daughter
1980
as Daisy Dallenger
1979
1979
as Kimberly Drummond
1978
as Jenny
1978
as Kimberly Drummond
1977
as Dana Plato
1977
as Evie Jo
1977
as Sandra Phalor (uncredited)
1976
as Debbie
1975
as Wendy
1974
as Girl on the Tennis Court