Hayden Panettiere
Hayden Lesley Panettiere (/ˌpænətiˈɛər/;[3] born August 21, 1989[4]) is an American actress and singer. 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.[5] She also appears in the slasher horror franchise Scream, portraying Kirby Reed.
Hayden Panettiere
- Actress
- model
- singer
1993–present
Wladimir Klitschko (2009–2011, 2013–2018)
1
Jansen Panettiere (brother)
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 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 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 voiced Kairi and Xion in the video game series Kingdom Hearts (2002–2017), and Samantha "Sam" Giddings in the video game Until Dawn (2015).
Early life[edit]
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.)[6][7][8][9] Her mother's family lives in Indiana.[10][11]
After Panettiere attended South Orangetown Middle School in New York, she was homeschooled[12] and had private tutors from grade nine to the completion of high school to accommodate her acting schedule.
Activism[edit]
In 2007, Panettiere became an official supporter of Ronald McDonald House Charities and is a member of their celebrity board, called the Friends of RMHC.[62]
On October 31, 2007, Panettiere joined with The Whaleman Foundation to try to disrupt the annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Wakayama, Japan. She was involved in a confrontation between Japanese fishermen and five other surfers of the group from Australia and the United States (including former Home and Away actress Isabel Lucas). The confrontation lasted more than ten minutes before the surfers were forced to return to the beach, after which they left the country.[63] Parts of the confrontation can be seen on the award-winning Sundance Film Festival documentary film The Cove. The fishermen consider the condemnation as an attack on their culture.[64]
On January 28, 2008, Panettiere handed a letter of protest to the Norwegian ambassador in the U.S. arguing that Norway should stop its hunt for whales. She also delivered a letter to the Japanese ambassador calling for the end of Japan's hunting of whales. At a 2007 Greenpeace event in Anchorage, Alaska, Panettiere defended aboriginal whaling, saying that there is a difference between commercial whaling and the whaling practiced by aboriginal tribes in the U.S.[65]
In May 2008, Panettiere was involved in an eBay auction to benefit Save the Whales Again, a campaign of The Whaleman Foundation. The auction included tickets to a fundraising dinner hosted at the Hollywood restaurant Beso, owned by Eva Longoria, and a whale watching tour, with Panettiere, off the coast of Santa Barbara.[66] The same month, during an interview with Teen Vogue, she explained how her fame gives her a platform for her activism: "The show [Heroes] put me in a place to speak for things that I'm passionate about."[67]
In September 2008, Panettiere launched her own line of calfskin leather bags for the company Dooney & Bourke.[68] In October, she delved into the presidential election, releasing a satirical public service announcement through the website Funny or Die. In this video, Panettiere mocked Republican candidate John McCain for his age and temper.[69] She subsequently made clear her intention to vote for Barack Obama and urged other young people to vote.[70]
Panettiere has long supported the statehood movement in the District of Columbia.[71] In 2008, she appeared in a public service announcement with DC Shadow Senator Paul Strauss endorsing voting rights for Washington, D.C.[72] In 2011, DC Mayor Vincent Gray acknowledged Panettiere's advocacy on behalf of securing full representation in Congress for District of Columbia residents by naming a day in her honor. At the ceremony, Panettiere reflected, "It seems like such (an) unfathomable fact that, you know, it's taxation without representation in D.C., and that there's no democracy in our democracy, at the heart of it."[73] She participated in Strauss'[74] "51 Stars" campaign which aimed to get 51 celebrities to endorse making Washington, D.C., the 51st state.[75]
She was also a teen ambassador for the Candie's Foundation, whose mission is to prevent teen pregnancy. On May 6, 2009, she participated in a town hall meeting in New York City alongside Bristol Palin and Major League Baseball pitcher Matt Garza on the issue of teen pregnancy.[76]
On December 6, 2013, Panettiere and her then-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko visited the Euromaidan protests in Kiev, Ukraine.[77] Wladimir's brother, Vitali, was one of the leading figures of the protests.[78][79]
In July 2020, Panettiere advocated for victims of domestic abuse to come forward and share their stories, specifically after she herself had gone through abuse.[80][81]