She was born July 26 in Chicago, Illinois, but her parents soon moved to Riverside, Connecticut where she spent her childhood.

Dorothy began skating at the age of 8 on a pond in the back for her grandparents home. She took lessons because she wanted to learn how to skate backwards like the other kids.

Dorothy's talent soon became apparent and in 1969 she began working with Gus Lussi in Lake Placid. In 1969 she won the National Novice title. After winning the silver at the junior Nationals in 1970 Carlo Fassi (who had coached Peggy Fleming to an Olympic Gold medal in 1968) invited Dorothy to join him at the Broadmore Skating Club in Colorado Springs.

Dorothy was considered an athletic skater. Although she had a musical and lyrical quality to her skating, she despaired of ever being as graceful as Peggy Fleming and so determined to jump higher and better than anyone else. Although some skaters were doing triple jumps and Dorothy did some triple jumps in practice, she did not do any in her competitive programs. It was not considered necessary at the time and Dorothy was in fact the last lady to win an Olympic gold medal with no triple jumps.

Dorothy also suffered from terrible nerves and would often be terrified before skating, though it rarely showed. At the 1974 World Championships in Munich Germany, her nerves almost got the best of her.

Just before she skated, a German lady named Gerti Schanchet skated to an appreciative home crowd. When her scores came up, they were too low for the audience and they began to boo. Gerti remained on the ice waving to the crowd, even after Dorothy's name had been called to skate. When Dorothy began to take her place, the crowd continued to boo and Dorothy feared they were booing at her. She burst into tears (she was 17 at the time) and left the ice. She sobbed in her fathers arms while the referee tried to get the crowd under control.

Dorothy planned to leave the ice to compose herself but when she returned to the ice to retrieve her guards, the audience, realizing the effect their booing had her, began to cheer. She decided to skate and skated a free program that won her the silver medal.

After winning the gold medal at the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck in front of millions of television viewers, Dorothy Hamill became the most sought figure skater for commercial endorsements in history. She was pretty and charismatic and very popular. She accepted a very lucrative contract to star in the Ice Capades and skated with them for many years. She also appeared in Nutcracker on Ice with Robin Cousins, a televised version of Romeo and Juliet on Ice, toured with John Curry, starred in Stars on Ice, as well as TV specials with Gene Kelly, Perry Como and Andy Williams. She won the World Professional Skating Championships five years in a row.

Dorothy Hamill was inducted in the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1991.

Dorothy's personal life as been a little rockier. She married Dean Paul Martin (son of Dean Martin) in 1982 , but that marriage lasted only a few years. She later married Dr. Kenneth Forth and they have a daughter named Alexandria, but that marriage also did not last.

In 1991 Dorothy bought out the financially troubled Ice Capades and produced and starred in a highly acclaimed tour "Frozen in Time- Cinderella on Ice". She wanted to treat cast members better than skating tours often treat skaters, --she abolished the humiliating weekly "weigh in" , offered daily skating classes and better living conditions. But the financial problems were too strong she declared bankruptcy in 1994.
In the past few years Dorothy has appeared in Tom Collins Champions on Ice, specials and other professional figure skating competitions, always to the crowds great pleasure and delight.