Kianna Underwood’s Dad Speaks Out After Former Child Star Was Killed in Hit-and-Run: ‘Did Anyone Try to Comfort My Baby?’
- - Kianna Underwood’s Dad Speaks Out After Former Child Star Was Killed in Hit-and-Run: ‘Did Anyone Try to Comfort My Baby?’
Toria SheffieldJanuary 18, 2026 at 1:57 AM
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Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic
Kianna Underwood in 2004 -
Anthony Underwood, the father of the late former Nickelodeon star Kianna Underwood, has spoken out following her death
Kianna was killed in a hit-and-run incident in Brooklyn, N.Y., on the morning of Friday, Jan. 16
In a since-deleted post, Kianna’s father wondered if anyone was there to “comfort” his daughter in her final moments
The father of former Nickelodeon star Kianna Underwood has spoken out following her sudden death at the age of 33.
Kianna was killed in a hit-and-run incident while crossing a street in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Friday, Jan. 16, at approximately 6:40 a.m. local time, per a New York Police Department (NYPD) spokesperson in a statement to PEOPLE.
Her father, Anthony Underwood, shared a since-deleted message about her death on Facebook on the morning of Saturday, Jan. 17. In the post, the grieving dad wondered if anyone was there to “comfort” his daughter in her final moments.
“So this one time [my partner] Tia Ynvme Taylor and I were in the Catskills and we saw this fox on the road,” he began in his message.
“I could tell it had been hit. It was a dangerous curved road and I contemplated moving our car into the middle of the road so it wouldn't get hit again. But before I could do anything someone came around the corner and didnt slow down when I started flashing my highbeams. So the driver ran over the fox, I remember the horror I felt when I saw that,” he said.
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“Another driver pulled over and picked the fox up who was still alive and put it on the side of the road,” he continued.
“All I can think about is did anyone show my baby that same compassion, as someone ran her over like roadkill. Did anyone try to comfort my baby as she layed dying in the street alone, or did they just stand around with their phones,” he asked at the end of his post.
heodore Parisienne/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty
Police where Kianna Underwood died in a hit-and-run incident on Jan. 16, 2026
In their statement to PEOPLE, the NYPD said that investigators determined that a black 2021 Ford Explorer SUV “operated by an unidentified individual” crossed over the yellow line and was driving “counterflow” to traffic when it collided with Kianna, who was crossing the street at a marked crosswalk at Pitkin Avenue and Mother Gaston Boulevard.
Kianna was “subsequently struck by a black and gray sedan," also driven by an unidentified individual, as she was on the ground in the road. Both drivers fled, and Kianna was pronounced dead at the scene, per NYPD.
No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
Kianna appeared on season 10 of the hit Nickelodeon show All That as a child actor in 2005. Outside of her time on the sketch show, she appeared in many television series and films throughout her career.
She voiced Fuchsia Glover for 23 episodes from 1999 to 2004 in Little Bill, and later appeared in The 24 Hour Woman, in which she starred opposite Rosie Perez, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Patti LuPone and more.
Nickelodeon
Kianna Underwood in ‘All That’ season 10 (2005)
She also had a minor role in Death of a Dynasty, a satirical comedy about the hip-hop industry, starring Kevin Hart. In addition to her on-screen roles, Kianna spent a year onstage, performing as little Inez during the first national tour of Hairspray in the mid-2000s
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
