Hayden Panettiere

Hayden Lesley Panettiere (born August 21, 1989 ) is an American actress and singer.

A native of Palisades, New York, she first appeared on-screen in a commercial in 1990 at only 11 months old.

Her full-time acting career began in 1994 when playing Sarah Roberts on the long-running ABC soap opera series One Life to Live until 1997.

She landed a role as Sarah Roberts on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live from 1994 to 1997, which was followed by Lizzie Spaulding on the CBS soap opera Guiding Light in 1996, and again from 1997 to 2000.

While on Guiding Light, Panettiere's character Lizzie battled leukemia.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society gave her its Special Recognition Award for drawing the attention of daytime viewers to the disease, and for improving national awareness.

She then went on to play Lizzie Spaulding on one of CBS's own soaps, Guiding Light from 1996 until 2000.

For her work on Pixar film A Bug's Life (1998), she was nominated for a Young Artist Award and a Grammy Award, making her the 5th youngest artist ever to be nominated for a Grammy.

Panettiere made her feature film debut at the age of 9, albeit as a voice actor, for 1998's A Bug's Life, but her first released film was the same year's The Object of My Affection at the age of 8, in which she appears briefly as a mermaid in the school play in the opening scene.

For her performance in Lifetime Television's 1999 TV movie If You Believe, she was nominated for the Young Artist Award for Young Actress Age Ten or Under in the category of Best Performance in a TV Movie or Pilot.

Panettiere appeared on Fox's Ally McBeal as the title character's daughter, played the daughter of a man transitioning to female in HBO Films' Normal, had a recurring guest role on Malcolm in the Middle and guest starred in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in two different roles.

Panettiere gained greater fame as Claire Bennet in the NBC series Heroes, which was created by Tim Kring, as a high school cheerleader with regenerative healing powers.

In 1999, she played the girl on a sinking sailboat in Message in a Bottle.

Panettiere has also starred in the Disney football drama film Remember the Titans (2000), the final season of the Fox legal comedy-drama series Ally McBeal (2002), the comedy-drama film Raising Helen (2004), the Disney Channel original patriotic film Tiger Cruise (2004), the horse racing comedy film Racing Stripes (2005), the figure skating drama film Ice Princess (2005), the teen cheerleading film Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006), the romantic comedy film I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009), the true crime drama film Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy (2011), and the drama film Custody (2016).

She played the role of Coach Yoast's daughter, Sheryl, in the 2000 Disney film Remember the Titans.

She voiced Kairi and Xion in the video game series Kingdom Hearts (2002–2017), and Samantha "Sam" Giddings in the video game Until Dawn (2015).

Panettiere was born and partly raised in Palisades, New York.

She is the daughter of Lesley R. Vogel, a former soap opera actress, and Alan Lee "Skip" Panettiere, a captain in the New York City Fire Department.

She is of partial Italian descent.

She had one younger brother, fellow actor Jansen Panettiere, who died of complications from enlarged heart syndrome in 2023.

(He was 28 years old.) Her mother's family lives in Indiana.

After Panettiere attended South Orangetown Middle School in New York, she was homeschooled and had private tutors from grade nine to the completion of high school to accommodate her acting schedule.

Panettiere first appeared in commercials at the age of eleven months, beginning with an advertisement for a Playskool toy train.

In 2004, Disney Channel gave Panettiere her first starring roles as the daughter of actor Bill Pullman's character in Tiger Cruise, and as a teenage girl caught in a fantasy transitional realm alongside fellow child actor Ryan Kelley in fantasy film flick, The Dust Factory.

Her last major acting credit of 2004 was the role of adolescent niece to Kate Hudson's title character in Raising Helen, where Panettiere played the older sister to real life siblings Abigail and Spencer Breslin.

In 2005, Panettiere played opposite Michelle Trachtenberg as an ice skating rival in Disney's Ice Princess and lead the screen again, this time, as budding jockey Channing Walsh in 2005's film Racing Stripes. In 2006, Panettiere played a cheerleader in Bring It On: All or Nothing and had a supporting role as Adelaide Bourbon in the 2007 independent film Shanghai Kiss.

She is best known for her lead roles as Claire Bennet on the NBC superhero series Heroes (2006–2010) and Juliette Barnes in the ABC/CMT musical drama series Nashville (2012–2018).

The latter earned her two nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.

She also appears in the slasher horror franchise Scream, portraying Kirby Reed.

Thanks to her role on Heroes, she became a regular on the science fiction convention circuit, invited to attend conventions around the world in 2007, including Gen Con, New York Comic Con, and Fan Expo Canada.

Panettiere has complained that her acting options are sometimes limited because "people look at [her] as either the popular cheerleader type or just the blonde".

In early 2007, Panettiere appeared on the MTV show, Punk'd.

The appearance was engineered by her mother and involved a male "fan" discussing her work with her, instigating a jealous reaction from the man's spouse.

In June 2007, she signed with the William Morris Agency, after previously being represented by the United Talent Agency.

Forbes estimated that she earned $2 million in 2007.

In 2008, Panettiere appeared in the drama Fireflies in the Garden as a younger version of Emily Watson's character, Jane Lawrence.

In April 2012, she hosted an episode of the new series.

In March 2012, it was announced Panettiere had been cast opposite Connie Britton on the ABC musical drama series Nashville, where she portrayed Juliette Barnes.

The show reunited Panettiere with Burgess Jenkins (who appears in the first few episodes) from Remember the Titans.

The show moved from ABC to CMT for its fifth and sixth seasons, and concluded its run on July 26, 2018.