She rose to fame for playing Kimberly Drummond on the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes (1978–1986), which established her as a teen idol of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Plato made her acting debut at the age of 10, making a brief appearance on the ABC television show The Six Million Dollar Man.

[15] When Plato made a brief appearance on The Gong Show, she was spotted by a producer who helped cast her as Kimberly Drummond, the older sister of adopted brothers Arnold and Willis Jackson, on the NBC/ABC sitcom Diff'rent Strokes.

[16][17][18] In 1984, following the birth of her son Tyler, Plato was dismissed from her starring role due to both her pregnancy and struggles in her personal life, which producers felt would negatively impact their "wholesome family comedy".

[22] In 1981, Plato appeared in the television special A Step in Time,[23] which earned her a second Young Artist Award nomination.

In 1983, she starred in the television film High School U.S.A. as Cara Ames, alongside Diff'rent Strokes co-star Todd Bridges, who played Otto Lipton.

[24] In spite of the film being met with a mixed response from critics and viewers alike,[25][26] it gained popularity at the time of its premiere, particularly for its cast.

[31] Night Trap received mixed to negative reviews upon release, and in retrospect has continued to polarize critics and audiences.

It is best remembered for the controversy it created over the violence and sexuality that, along with that surrounding Mortal Kombat, eventually led to the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).

[32][33] Toward the end of her career, Plato chose roles that were erotic;[34] she appeared nude in Prime Suspect (1989) and Compelling Evidence (1995), and in the softcore erotic drama Different Strokes: The Story of Jack and Jill...and Jill (1998), the title of which was changed after filming in order to tie it to Plato's past.

Plato got engaged to her manager Robert Menchaca, six years her junior, with whom she lived in a motor home in Navarre, Florida.

[8] On February 28, 1991, Plato entered a Las Vegas video store, produced a pellet gun, and demanded the money in the cash register.

[1] She served thirty days in jail for violating the terms of her probation and immediately entered a drug rehabilitation program.

[41] Many callers to the show insulted Plato and questioned her sobriety, which angered and provoked her, and she defiantly offered to take a drug test on the air.

[8] Later on in the visit, Plato said that she felt unwell and took a few doses of a hydrocodone / acetaminophen painkiller (Lortab), along with the muscle-relaxant carisoprodol (Soma),[43] and went to lie down with Menchaca, inside her Winnebago recreational vehicle, which was parked outside the house.

[8] Carisoprodol and hydrocodone are known to have major drug interactions that can lead to serious side effects including profound sedation, respiratory distress, coma, and even death.

[51] Plato became a subject of the national debate surrounding troubled child stars, particularly given the difficulties of her Diff'rent Strokes co-stars Todd Bridges and Gary Coleman.

[52][53] In 2000, Fox broadcast a television movie based on Plato, titled After Diff'rent Strokes: When the Laughter Stopped.

[54] In 2006, NBC aired the television film Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Diff'rent Strokes, which was based on the lives of the child stars who had worked on the show.

[55] On May 6, 2010, two days before the eleventh anniversary of Plato's death, her son Tyler committed suicide with a gunshot wound to the head.