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Amelia Kinkade

Amelia Kinkade has followed a career path that moves from dance floors to horror movies and, later, into the unusual world of professional animal communication. Born in Fort Worth, Texas, on December 31, 1963, she studied modern dance at Interlochen Arts Academy before relocating to Los Angeles, where she trained at the Creative Acting Workshop with coaches including Robert Lewis and Lilyan Chauvin. Dance came first. Kinkade worked as a professional jazz dancer and choreographer, performing as a lead dancer alongside Smokey Robinson, Ray Charles, The Four Tops and other Motown performers on the television series The Motown Review. She toured with Donna Summer, appeared in music videos for artists including Cher, the Stray Cats and Sheena Easton, and was featured in dance-driven films such as Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Body Rock and Fast Forward. Some of her early screen credits used the name Mimi Kinkade. For horror audiences, Kinkade is best known as Angela Franklin, the villain at the center of Night of the Demons. She returned to the role in Night of the Demons 2 and Night of the Demons 3, giving her film career a clear three-movie through-line. Her other film appearances include Road House, while her television work includes The Golden Girls, General Hospital, Knight Rider and Fame. Beginning in 1990, she also played Vivian on The Young and the Restless. Kinkade’s later public work took a decidedly different direction. She has offered services as a psychic pet communicator, including helping owners understand their animals and search for missing pets. Her television appearances in that capacity have included The View, Extra and The Jenny Jones Show. In 2002, she was invited to Buckingham Palace to work with the household cavalry of Queen Elizabeth II and with Prince Charles’s hunting horses. It is an unconventional career, but one connected throughout by performance, communication and a willingness to take an unexpected route.