Former Nickelodeon child actor Kianna Underwood was killed in a hit-and-run that saw her body dragged two blocks through Brooklyn Friday morning, police and law enforcement sources said.
Underwood, 33, was struck by a black sedan heading west on Pitkin Ave. as she tried to cross the roadway near Mother Gaston Blvd. in Brownsville around 6:50 a.m., cops said.
Video recorded by cameras at Rainbow 2 Laundry, located on Pitkin Ave. near Osborn St., shows the victim become dislodged from the vehicle more than two blocks away, her body rolling out from under the wheels of the sedan as it cruises past the laundromat.
After the driver sped away, several people walked by unfazed, seeming not to notice the body lying in the street, before other bystanders eventually stopped and reached for their phones, the video shows.
The victim died at the scene.
Underwood is a New York City-born actor with film and TV credits from the late ’90s and early 2000s, who was only 6 years old when she made her first film appearance with the 1999 theatrical release of “The 24 Hour Woman,” according to her IMDB
She also joined the first national tour of “Hairspray” as little Inez and appeared in seven episodes of the Nickelodeon sketch comedy show “All That.”
Her first starring role was in “Little Bill,” an animated children’s series created by Bill Cosby for Nick Jr., in which she voiced the titular character’s cousin, Fuchsia Glover.
Locals knew the victim as a former child star.
“We, around here, know her as the Disney child star. But the show is actually, I just found out today, Nickelodeon,” said Sparkle Mathis, 36, who works at a restaurant near the scene of crash.
Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News
Kianna Underwood was found dead at Pitkin Ave. and Osborn St. in Brooklyn on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, after she was reportedly struck and dragged by a hit-and-run driver two blocks away. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
A local man, who didn’t give his name, said he had spoken to Kianna’s boyfriend, who confirmed Underwood was the victim.
“I’m very devastated, you know, I see her all the time,” he said. “She always had good spirits, happy, good energy…”
“It was very sad to hear that it was her.”
Asked how he found out it was Underwood, he said, “Because I heard it from her boyfriend.”
“He explained to me that he was just trying to cook breakfast for her this morning,” he said. “And he was just talking to her and he was begging her to stay inside the house.”
