Dana Plato

Dana Michelle Plato (née Strain; November 7, 1964 – May 8, 1999) was an American actress. An influential teen idol of the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was best known for playing the role of Kimberly Drummond on the NBC/ABC sitcom Diff'rent Strokes (1978–1986).

Plato was born to a teen mother and was adopted as an infant. She was raised in the San Fernando Valley and was an accomplished figure skater before acting. Her acting career began with numerous commercial appearances, and her television debut came at the age of 10 with a brief appearance on the television series The Six Million Dollar Man (1975). Plato subsequently appeared in the horror films Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) and Return to Boggy Creek (1977).

Plato's breakthrough feature was the Academy Award–winning film California Suite (1978), in which she played Jenny Warren. She earned widespread recognition and acclaim for playing Kimberly Drummond on Diff'rent Strokes. The role also earned Plato nominations for a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Comedy Series and two TV Land Awards for Best Quintessential Non-Traditional Family. Following Diff'rent Strokes, she worked sporadically in independent films and B movies. Plato was married twice; she had a child in 1984 during her marriage to guitarist Lanny Lambert.

Plato struggled with substance abuse for most of her life. She was arrested in 1991 for robbing a video store, and again the following year for forging a drug prescription. On May 8, 1999, at age 34, Plato was found dead in her motor home from an overdose of prescription drugs. Her death was initially considered accidental, but later ruled a suicide. Her personal life, in retrospect, has been described as a "tragedy".