- Joined
- Mar 23, 2008
Randomly looking through old 80's TV shows on youtube, I started looking up some of the actors/actresses from the shows. Apparently Dana Plato from Different Strokes (who sadly died of overdose in 1999) was a figure skater before she was an actress. She also claimed to have qualified for the olympic team before leaving skating for full-time acting... that sounds hard to believe, but does anyone know how far she actually made it in competition? I have to believe she at least competed as a novice, if not a junior or senior. I'd like to know where she placed.
Different Strokes started in 1978. Supposedly she was on The Gong Show before this, and that was how she was "discovered" for her role in Different Strokes. I can't find a date for the Gong Show appearance. So she must have left skating in 1978 or earlier, when she could have been no older than 14 (there are even discrepencies about the date of her birth, heh.) I tried searching for more info, but I just find lots of stuff about her life troubles, and nothing about her skating...
Different Strokes started in 1978. Supposedly she was on The Gong Show before this, and that was how she was "discovered" for her role in Different Strokes. I can't find a date for the Gong Show appearance. So she must have left skating in 1978 or earlier, when she could have been no older than 14 (there are even discrepencies about the date of her birth, heh.) I tried searching for more info, but I just find lots of stuff about her life troubles, and nothing about her skating...