Hamilton worked in a number of productions for film, stage, television and video. She took the role of Reggie Higgins in the TV version of the musical
Fame for the fifth and sixth seasons (1985–1987), and portrayed the role of Maureen Johnson in the first national tour of the stage musical
Rent to considerable acclaim. She also studied music and acting at
Pepperdine University in
Malibu, California. One of her films was
Tokyo Pop (1988), in which she played an American singer who journeys to Japan. There, she found a relationship with both a singer (played by
Diamond Yukai also known as Yutaka Tadokoro) and a band who made it into the Tokyo
pop charts Top Ten. She performed several songs in the film. In 1991 she was a guest musician on the band
Ugly Kid Joe's "
As Ugly as They Wanna Be" album, playing piano on the track "
Everything About You." In 1992, Hamilton had a minor role in the live-action movie
Cool World. Hamilton married musician
Mark Templin in 1994 on the same sound stage where
The Carol Burnett Show was videotaped. The couple divorced in 1998. Hamilton occasionally appeared on television with her mother. In 1987, Burnett guest-starred in an episode of
Fame titled "Reggie and Rose". The pair co-starred in a 1988 TV movie titled
Hostage. They appeared on five episodes of
Family Feud in 1995, competing with Hamilton's husband Mark Templin and mother-in-law Dalia Ward against a team led by
Betty White. in 1997, they starred on an episode of
Touched by an Angel titled "The Comeback". Hamilton played an aspiring
Broadway star whose mother (Burnett) had also made a run for Broadway fame, but failed (due to a dirty trick on the part of her conniving best friend, played by
Rita Moreno). In 1999, Hamilton starred in a popular sixth-season episode of
The X-Files, titled "
Monday". She played the role of Pam, the girlfriend of a would-be bank robber, who is forced to relive the same day over and over. Hamilton worked with her mother to adapt Burnett's memoir,
One More Time, for the stage play
Hollywood Arms, but she did not live long enough to see it produced. To honor her daughter, Carol Burnett published a book called
Carrie and Me: A Mother-Daughter Love Story. This was released on April 8, 2014, and became a
New York Times bestselling memoir.
People magazine described it as a “loving, poignant” tribute book to Burnett’s eldest daughter. Hamilton had a three-year period of heavy drug and alcohol abuse that she successfully overcame by the time she was 15. Except for a brief relapse at 17, she remained drug- and alcohol-free for the remainder of her life. ==Death==