Hayden Panettiere Career as Actor

Panettiere began modeling at the age of four months. She then began appearing in commercials at 11 months, first appearing in an advertisement for Playskool. She landed a role as Sarah Roberts on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live (1994-1997) and later as Lizzie Spaulding on the CBS soap opera Guiding Light (1996-2000). While on Guiding Light, Panettiere's character Lizzie battled leukemia, for which the show received a Special Recognition Award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for bringing national awareness of the disease to the attention of daytime viewers.

Panettiere appears as Claire Bennet in the NBC series Heroes as a high school cheerleader with regenerative healing powers. Due 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 GenCon, New York Comic-Con and Fan Expo Canada. In regard to the roles she has played, Panettiere admitted that options are sometimes limited because "people look at [her] as either the 'popular cheerleader' type or just 'the blonde'."

Panettiere at Comic-Con 2008

She has appeared in over a dozen full-length feature films, several made-for-TV movies and provided the voice for Dot in A Bug's Life. She played the role of Coach Yoast's daughter, Sheryl, in the 2000 Disney film Remember The Titans. In addition, she voiced Kairi in the Kingdom Hearts series of video games for the PlayStation 2. Panettiere appeared on FOX's Ally McBeal as Ally McBeal's daughter, and had a recurring guest role on Malcolm in the Middle and guest starred in Law & Order: SVU. She starred in Bring It On: All or Nothing as a cheerleader and had a supporting role as Adelaide Bourbon in the recently released independent film Shanghai Kiss. She appeared in the Disney Channel film Tiger Cruise, playing the main role of a Navy brat and in Raising Helen, as the adolescent niece.

She appeared in the drama film Fireflies in the Garden as a younger version of Emily Watson's character, Jane Lawrence. In June 2007, she signed with the William Morris Agency, after previously being represented by United Talent Agency.[11] Forbes estimated that she earned $2 million in 2007.

In early 2007, Panettiere appeared on the syndicated Ashton Kutcher-produced 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 December 2007 Panettiere was named GQ Magazine's Obsession Of the Year.

In September 2008, Panettiere appeared in a PSA satire video on funnyordie.com entitled "Hayden Panettiere PSA: Your Vote, Your Choice".

In October, Hayden debuted another satirical PSA video on funnyordie.com entitled "Vote for McCain: He's just like George Bush, except older and with a worse temper".

Panettiere will star in the teenage comedy Daydream Nation, written and to be directed by Michael Goldbach.

Posted in: Hayden Panettiere