Dana Hill

Dana Hill Actress, best known in Shoot the Moon and European Vacation
TV-movie “Fallen Angel” in 1981
Dana Hill was born in 1964 in Los Angeles. She was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was 10 years old, which hindered her growth and ended a promising future in athletics. Before she adapted to her sugar-free diet and daily insulin shots, she fell ill and was hospitalized numerous times.
Hill’s father directed commercials and landed her first job for her. She later took her mother’s maiden name, Hill, as her professional name in an effort to score roles on her own. She then threw herself into acting and starred in many TV shows and movies, including a guest appearance on the popular TV show Family and a regular role on CBS’ The Two of Us.
Hill’s impeded growth and child-like appearance allowed her to convincingly play roles younger than her years. Her first bit of stardom was the role of a child targeted by a pornographer in the highly-rated made-for-TV movie Fallen Angel, which earned her a Best Actress win at the Youth in Film Awards. Hill’s role in Shoot The Moon in 1982 is often called the best performance of her career, and she continued to be nominated for numerous young actress awards. That same year, she starred on stage in the live NBC theater presentation of The Member of the Wedding and won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for her performance in Picnic.
Hill continued acting until her health increasingly deteriorated, forcing her to move on to voice-over work; she was a regular voice in the widely held series Duckman. Well-known for her raspy voice, Hill voiced many animated characters and was in high demand for her vocal abilities. But in May of 1996, Hill fell into a diabetic coma. On June 5, she suffered a paralytic stroke and passed away on July 15, 1996 at the age of 32.