Dana Hill was born Dana Lynne Goetz on May 6, 1964, in a suburb of Los Angeles to parents Sandy Hill and Ted Goetz. Despite diabetes ending a promising future in athletics when she was just 10 years old, Dana gamely threw herself into acting when still in her early teens, taking her mother's maiden name as her professional acting name. She found success early on with her performances in both Fallen Angel (1981) (TV) and Shoot the Moon (1982), winning high praise from critics. For her stage work, Hill won the 1986 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award as Best Featured Actress for her performance in "Picnic." However, complications from her diabetes set in and the consequent decline in her health meant that from the mid-1980s on, Dana increasingly turned to voice over roles in animated movies and television programs such as Jetsons: The Movie (1990), "Goof Troop" (1992) and "Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man" (1994). In early 1996, Dana's health grew increasingly fragile as was evident to her friends and co-stars. Late that May, she slipped into a diabetic coma. On the 5th of June she suffered a paralytic stroke and on July 15 she died peacefully in the hospital at the age of 32, bringing an untimely end to a career that in less than two decades had spanned the big and small screen, animation and the theater.

Suffered from diabetes, which stunted her growth.Hill was her mother's maiden name.Because of her stunted growth, she appeared to be about 12 or 13 years old. She was cast in many teen roles well into her twenties, because as an adult, she was not subject to the strict labor rules a real teenager would be (limited shooting hours, on-set teachers, etc.).