Born on August 3, 1984, Amanda Kimmel was born in Denver, Colorado, but raised in Montana and now lives in Los Angeles. Amanda started her career in the entertainment industry at the early age of 16 when she was discovered by a talent agent in a local mall and sent to Chicago to work and live the life of a model. Amanda returned to Montana to focus on her studies and graduate high school. With high school behind her, Amanda again began pursuit of her entertainment career but this time with pageants.

She traveled to China twice to compete in the Miss Kite of the World Pageant in Weifang. This pageant was formed to promote tourism to the city where hand painted kites were invented. It included girls from all over the world competing for the title. She soon landed a spot as a semi-finalist and was given a key to the city. She was then featured in numerous billboards, news articles, and TV shows. In 2005, Amanda was crowned Miss Montana USA and competed in the Miss USA pageant owned by Donald Trump. She traveled around Montana and the country for a year with several charity organizations like Special Olympics, and promoted her anti-drug platform to schools. She then was selected to represent the USA in the international Miss Earth pageant held in the Philippines where she promoted environmental awareness. She ended up a swimsuit finalist and placed in the top eight, which is the highest Miss Earth USA has placed so far.

In 2007, Amanda then made her debut into reality TV. She appeared as a contestant on the 15th season of the hit CBS reality television series, Survivor: China. She started out on the Fei Long tribe and made it to the final three, placing third. Three short weeks later she was invited back as a favorite to compete on Survivor Micronesia: Fans vs. Favorites, placing in the final two and setting several Survivor records, like the most days on the show (78).

Currently Amanda is inching her way into the film industry, making her movie debut in "The Reef," directed by Steve Herek, which is now filming in Hawaii.

During her free time, Amanda enjoys designing, drawing and painting, rollerblading, shopping, and eating out. She also likes athletic activities such as yoga, volleyball, surfing, rock climbing, snowshoeing, hiking, and snow boarding.