Did you know?:
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Dana's first major tv appearance was a part on a "Six-Million-Dollar
Man" show which was the pilot episode for the tv series 'The Bionic Woman' which
starred Lindsay Wagner.
She listed her interests as ice skating, skiing, and horseback
riding in the 1984 TV Superstars Book.
Other interests listed included ballet dancing and sky
diving.
Dana appeared in over 100 TV commercials starting age 7 including Kentucky Fried Chicken, Arco, Hallmark, and Dole. In one Dole commercial, she had to eat 82 bananas and got terribly sick.
Dana was training in ice skating for the Olympics when she got the role of Kimberly on "Diff'rent Strokes." She had to give up hope for the Olympics, but she still skated for fun.
A 1984 NBC Biography sheet listed her height as 5'2" and weight as 100 lbs with blonde hair and blue-green eyes.
Dana was adopted and her mother's name was Florine 'Kay' Plato (she died in the January of 1998 of a blood disease). Her father Dean was divorced from Kay when Dana
was 4 years old (from a 1981 TV Guide article). Dana met her biological mother (Linda Strain) in the early 1990's.
Dana won the role of the daughter in the first Exorcist movie, but her mother wouldn't let her take it. She did have a small part in Exorcist II: The Heretic.
Dana got the role of Kimberly on Diff'rent Strokes after a producer spotted her on The Gong Show.
Dana was reportedly paid as high as $22,000 per episode of Diff'rent Strokes.
Dana broke her ankle skydiving during one of her landings for the 1980
Celebrity Daredvils special.
© 1998-2007, Todd Fuller 
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