Kimberlin Brown
- Actress
Born in Hayward, California as Kimberlin Ann Brown, Brown made daytime television history by successfully crossing over her character from the number one daytime drama The Young and the Restless (1973) to The Bold and the Beautiful (1987) causing the latter show's ratings to skyrocket in the early 1990s.
Discovered by famed modeling agent Nina Blanchard, it took almost a year of soul-searching for Brown to decide if she really wanted to give up her dream of being an architect, before she moved to Los Angeles. The modeling work came quickly, and Brown jetted off to model in Tokyo, Milan and Paris. Upon her return to the United States, Brown decided to give acting a try. She guest starred on numerous television series, including Matt Houston (1982) and T.J. Hooker (1982) while taking acting classes. Brown soon won a recurring part on the daytime drama Capitol (1982). In addition, she had featured roles in the films Who's That Girl (1987), 18 Again! (1988), and Eye of the Tiger (1986). Brown's big break came in 1990: Jill Newton, the casting director of The Young and the Restless, remembered Brown from a previous audition and called her in for the role of nurse Sheila Carter. Originally designed as a minor recurring player, Brown's talents were quickly realized by the show's creator William J. Bell and culminated in a 1992 Daytime Emmy Award nomination as 'Best Supporting Actress'. As the role of Sheila Carter expanded to a full-flexed villain amidst a baby-snitch storyline along-side Tracey E. Bregman's Lauren Fenmore, the character was eventually "killed off" in dramatic fashion in May 1992. Little did viewers know, that the genius of William J. Bell saw a new lease of light for the character on sister-show The Bold And The Beautiful: A very much alive Sheila showed up in fictional Los Angeles where she was linked to the powerful Forrester dynasty. The rivalry of Sheila and Lauren continued to play a pivotal role in Los Angeles as well as Genoa City for another three years creating several story-lines spanning both shows. Brown's character was eventually reformed and continued in another direction until her shocking exit in October 1998.
In 1999, Brown started a three-year-run as psychologist Dr. Rachel Locke on Port Charles (1997) - and no stranger to cross-over series-events - also brought this character to life on mother-show General Hospital (1963) on several occasions. In a top-secret move, Brown then made a highly publicized surprise return to The Bold And The Beautiful in May 2002. Due to a change of storyline, Brown was written off after just 6 months when the character of Sheila shot another legacy character, Dr. Taylor as played by Hunter Tylo. Following another quick return visit in 2003, Brown landed the role of Dr. Paige Miller on New York-based One Life to Live (1968), but left the show after several months to return to the role of Sheila Carter in August 2005. But this time, Brown returned to her original stomping grounds on The Young And The Restless. However, changes in storyline cut her return short and Brown was written off a mere 6 months later. In following years, scheduling conflicts prevented Brown from reprising her legacy character which was eventually killed off.
In the last couple of years, Brown has starred in several independent movie productions and played a lead role on web-serial The Bay (2010) in 2011 in addition to starting her own interior design firm in 2012 in San Diego, California. Brown is married to Gary Pelzer since May 11, 1991 and they share a daughter and son.