Dana Plato was born to a young, unwed mother named Linda Strain, in Maywood, California. Unable to care for her daughter, Strain placed Dana for adoption. Her date of birth is listed as November 1, 1963, though many sources believe it to be November 7, 1964. In June of 1965, Dean and Kay Plato of San Fernando Valley in California adopted Plato. Though Dana was quite skilled in figure skating, her adoptive mother had begun pursuing an acting career for Dana at an early age and from the time she was seven, Plato began doing television commercials.
Dana Plato, former co-star of ABC's comedy sitcom "Different Strokes", led a troubled life from an early age. Lumped together with other former child stars such as "Different Strokes", "Corey Feldman" and "Danny Bonaduce" co-star Todd Bridges, she suffered from drug and alcohol addiction, legal trouble, and suicide attempts in the years following her successful role as Kimberly Drummond.
With somewhere in the vicinity of 100 commercials under her belt, Dana appeared twice on the 1970s television series "The Bionic Women", starring Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner. Plato reportedly turned down the role of Regan in the 1973 film "The Exorcist", but was cast in the sequel "The Exorcist II: The Heretic" in 1977. In 1978, Dana landed her huge break and was cast on the series "Different Stokes", alongside Todd Bridges and Gary Coleman. The series lasted until 1986, though actress was written off the show in 1984 due to her pregnancy with son, Tyler, by her then-husband Lanny Lambert, who won custody of their child after their divorce in 1990.
Though Dana made guest appearances on several television series such as "The Love Boat", "Growing Pains" and "ChiPs" during the 1980s, and appeared in a few low-budget, made for television movies, Dana's acting career plummeted after "Different Strokes". Plato took roles in grade B films and filled roles deemed soft pornography, even taking one of the first celebrity spots in a video game with Sega's Night Trap, but her career was being criticized and she was struggling with drugs, alcohol, depression, and the law.
Having struggled with drug use since her teens, in 1991 Dana was arrested for robbing a video store of $200 using a pellet gun. She was arrested a second time in 1992 for forging a prescription for painkillers.
At the end of her career, she was engaged to Robert Menchaca and living in a RV. Plato and her fiance were attempting to revive her career. On May 7, 1999, she appeared on "The Howard Stern Show" where she held discussions about her troubled past and was claiming to be drug free and working at revitalizing her career.
The following day, Dana was found dead in her RV outside her future mother-in-law's home having ingested an overdose of painkillers; her death was ruled a suicide by coroner's inquest. Her final role was as the prosecuting attorney in "Pacino Is Missing", in which Todd Bridges also had a role. Bridges, who had known Plato most of his life, remains adamant that Plato did not mean to kill herself.
