Dana Hill - Teen Years

Teen Years

Despite her father's strong discouragement, Hill’s initial work was in commercials (her first job was a 1973 commercial for the YMCA, spinning a basketball on her finger with then-Boston Celtics center Dave Cowens). However, to avoid the appearance of nepotism, she took her mother's maiden name as her stage name and devoted herself to acting as a career. She appeared in guest roles on such programs as Family before landing a major role on the 1981–1982 CBS series The Two Of Us as Gabrielle "Gabby" Gallagher. While filming this series the 17-year-old Hill would sometimes be pulled over by the police while driving to the studio, because she looked too young to drive.

Her breakthrough role was in the 1981 made-for-TV movie Fallen Angel. The 17-year-old Hill played 12-year-old molestation victim Jennifer Phillips, a role which earned her a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Television Special.

In 1982, Hill played Sherry Dunlap, the daughter of Albert Finney and Diane Keaton in Shoot the Moon That same year, she played Frankie Addams, the lead character in the made-for-TV adaptation of The Member of the Wedding, co-starring with Pearl Bailey. In 1983 she starred with Rip Torn and Mary Steenburgen in the film Cross Creek, a semi-biographical story about Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of The Yearling; in real life, her character was a young boy.

In 1982 and 1983, Dana had two guest appearances in the TV series The Fall Guy. In season 1, episode 18 "Child's Play" she played a young girl called Libby. In season 2, episode 20 "P.S. I Love You" she had the role of 21-year-old stunt woman Cassie Farraday. In 1983 she made a guest appearance on Magnum PI. Episode entitled Basket Case. She played a 13 yr old foster child," Willie", who joined Magnum's youth basketball team.

At age 19 she starred in a 1984 CBS Schoolbreak Special called Welcome Home, Jellybean, playing Geraldine "Jellybean" Oxley, a 12-year-old developmentally disabled girl whose parents remove their daughter out of an institution to experience a normal home life. The same year, she appeared in Shelley Duvall's 1980s children's TV series Faerie Tale Theatre, playing The Princess in an episode called "The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers."

In 1986, she had another role in the TV series The Fall Guy. In season 5, episode 20 "Tag Team" she played the role of "Loser".