'Yellowstone' actor collected $96,000 in disability benefits while working on the show, officials say

Elisha Fieldstadt
·2 min read
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A "Yellowstone" actor has been accused of insurance fraud after collecting nearly $97,000 in disability benefits while she was working on the show, authorities said Monday.

Q’Orianka Kilcher, 32, of North Hollywood, was charged with two counts of workers’ compensation insurance fraud, according to the California Department of Insurance.

The department said Kilcher collected $96,838 in disability benefits even though she was working on "Yellowstone" from July 2019 to October 2019. Kilcher played Angela Blue Thunder on the Paramount Network show.

Kilcher said she had injured her neck and shoulder while acting in the movie “Dora and the Lost City of Gold" in 2018, according to the state insurance department's statement. She saw a doctor but did not respond to an insurance company handling her claim.

A year later, Kilcher told the insurance company she needed treatment and had been offered work since the injuries but couldn't take it because she was in too much pain, the statement said. At that time, she began collecting disability benefits, according to state officials.

But an investigation found Kilcher had been working, making the benefits she received "undeserved," the statement said.

Kilcher was arraigned in May shortly after she surrendered, according to the insurance department. Her next court date is scheduled for Aug. 7.

Kilcher's attorney did not immediately respond Tuesday morning to a request for comment from NBC News.

The attorney, Michael Becker, told The Associated Press that Kilcher had been injured while riding in a production vehicle.

“Third-party doctors verified her injury and entitlement to benefits. Ms. Kilcher was at all times candid with her doctors and treatment providers ... and she never intentionally accepted benefits that she did not believe she was entitled to,” Becker said.

Kilcher will “vigorously defend herself and asks that she be afforded the presumption of innocence both in and outside the courthouse,” he said.