Amelia Kinkade

**Amelia "Mimi" Kinkade** is an American actress, dancer, choreographer and animal psychic possibly best known as Angela Franklin in the "Night of the Demons" movies.

Born December 31, 1963 in Fort Worth, Texas, Kinkade is the maternal niece of Emmy Award-winning actress Rue McClanahan. She studied and graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan with a major in modern dance. She also had dance training with the New Orleans Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet with Michael Simms at Stephens College, Martha Graham training with Ko Yukihiro at Oklahoma University and a scholarship to Gus Giordano's in Chicago. She also dabbled in acting, starring in an episode of "Mama's Family" with her aunt and her brother, Brendan Kinkade. Three years later, she also starred in an episode of "Golden Girls" with her famous aunt.

Kinkade moved to Los Angeles in the 1980s where her career as a professional jazz dancer and choreographer parlayed her into performances with Smokey Robinson, Ray Charles, The Four Tops and a multitude of Motown stars in the TV series, "The Motown Review." She was a featured dancer in "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo," "Body Rock" and "Fast Forward" among others. Kinkade also toured with Donna Summer and appeared in rock videos by the Stray Cats, Cher, Scorpions, Yarbrough and Peoples and Sheena Easton. Her work soon led into small roles in movies, such as "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" with Sarah Jessica Parker and Zoe Trilling along with roles on TV in "Knight Rider," "Misfits Of Science" and "Fame," usually credited as Mimi Kinkade, a nickname she dropped years later.

In 1986, she played the most iconic role of her career, the role of the Gothic demoness Angela Franklin in the "Night of the Demons" franchise, joined by Zoe Trilling in the first sequel. Despite the movie's huge cult status among loyal fans, Kinkade never realized the popularity of the movie among horror fans until years later.

Kinkade followed the movie as the character Vicki in a six-episode story arc on "The Young and the Restless." Her last acting roles were the 1994 and 1995 sequels to "Night of the Demons," where she was given full range to show off her dancing abilities. She left acting afterward to work with her other passion involving animals, developing a career as an animal psychic. Her lectures, classes and book discussions have taken her to numerous places around the world, including South Africa, Thailand and the United Kingdom.

In 2001, Kinkade published her first book, *Straight From the Horse's Mouth - How to Talk to Animals and Get Answers* under Crown Books. In 2002, she was invited to Buckingham Palace to work with the household cavalry of Queen Elizabeth II and communicate with the hunting horses of Prince Charles. She would go on to write five more books concerning animal care. She has toured the world for over sixteen years, teaching Animal Communication seminars in England, Scotland, the Isle of Man, Switzerland, South Africa, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Italy, France, Canada, Mexico, the Canary Islands, Austria, the Netherlands, Brazil and Poland.

Amelia is also the founder of a non-profit charity, Ark Angel, which allows her to teach wildlife education in rural communities in South Africa, Zambia and Rwanda to prevent impoverished children from growing up to be poachers. Since realizing her cult status as a horror movie icon, she was inducted into the Horror Movie Hall of Fame at a film festival in San Antonio, Texas, establishing her role as the first female "monster" in movie history.

Today, she lives in Los Angeles and shares her home with a 17-year-old tuxedo cat named Aunt Flo, who functions as her room-mate, role model, boss, therapist, editor, pillow, and alarm clock. She also writes and illustrates whimsical children's books, with pen and ink drawings and watercolor paintings. She studies life drawing, figure construction, anatomy, perspective drawing, and quick sketch at the American Animation Academy under the watchful eye of the legendary Karl Gnass, one of the world's most revered art teachers.