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Dana Kimmell

Dana Kimmell built a compact but varied screen career across television drama, action and early-1980s horror. Born in Texarkana on October 26, 1959, she spent part of her childhood in Kingsburg, California, before her family moved to Center, Texas. An early break came through Teen magazine, which selected her in 1974 as one of eight girls from 20,000 applicants to model in Hollywood for a week. She later signed with Nina Blanchard’s modeling agency and found an agent after graduating from Bullard High School as valedictorian in 1977. Kimmell made her professional acting debut that year with a guest appearance on Charlie’s Angels. Television became a steady part of her career, with appearances on shows including Eight Is Enough, Bosom Buddies, The Facts of Life, Happy Days, Fame, The A-Team, Dynasty, Hotel and Hunter. Her most substantial television role was Dawn Marshall, the youngest daughter of a wealthy Houston family, on the NBC soap Texas. She was credited in 51 episodes after first playing Dawn in an episode of Another World. For horror audiences, Kimmell is closely associated with Chris Higgins in Friday the 13th Part III, the college student who brings her friends to the mountains and finds herself confronting Jason Voorhees. Kimmell has spoken appreciatively of the role while also explaining that she viewed the film’s violence as shock-driven entertainment rather than something to be taken seriously. Her theatrical work also included Jim Sotos’s Sweet Sixteen and Lone Wolf McQuade, in which she played Sally McQuade, the daughter of Chuck Norris’s title character. Kimmell approached roles with clearly defined personal boundaries, declining nudity and profanity. That position also shaped her audition for Sarah Connor in The Terminator: although she loved the script, she asked for its sex scene to be removed or moved off-screen, and James Cameron declined. Her career ultimately reflects an actor willing to move between genres while remaining firm about the kind of work she wanted to do.