Dana Kimmell found global fame in the early 1980s when she starred in the classic horror movie Friday the 13th Part III, which became a box-office smash when it was released in the summer of 1982 — it knocked E.T. from the number-one spot and became the second-biggest horror movie of that year. She followed this up in 1983 with roles in the horror film Sweet Sixteen and Western movie Lone Wolf McQuade. She had previously made her name in the States by playing Dawn Marshall in the NBC soap opera Texas. She retired from acting and showbiz in 1990 and has spent most of the last 30-plus years living quietly as a Mormon and raising her family in California. She does however appear in the occasional local commercial and at fan conventions.

Kimmell got her break as a teenager when she won a modelling competition in Teen magazine. After graduating high school, she signed with a modelling agency and acted locally, eventually signing with an acting agent as well. She made her proper television debut in a 1977 episode of the iconic Charlie’s Angels series. In 1980, after further one-off roles, she landed the part of Dawn Marshall in a new soap opera called Texas, appearing in over 50 episodes. In 1982, however, she landed her biggest break of all when she was picked to star as Chris Higgins in the third instalment of the game-changing Friday the 13th series of horror films. It shot to the top of the box-office charts in August 1982, performing better than the previous instalment and selling over 11.5 million cinema tickets.