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Hayden Panettiere
Background information
Birth name	Hayden Leslie Panettiere
Also known as	Hayden Panettier
Born	August 21, 1989 (1989-08-21) (age 18) Palisades, New York, United States
Genre(s)	pop, dance-pop
Occupation(s)	Actress, singer
Years active	1994 — present
Label(s)	Hollywood
Website	www.haydenpanettiere.com

Hayden Leslie Panettiere (born August 21, 1989)^[1] is an American actress, singer, and Grammy Award nominee. Hayden plays the character Claire Bennet on the NBC television program Heroes. The advertising campaign and slogan for the program known as "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World" has helped make Panettiere famous.

Biography

Born in New York^[2] She has one younger brother, fellow actor Jansen Panettiere.^[3]

Panettiere attended South Orangetown Middle School in New York but following seventh grade, finished her high-school education via home schooling^[4] and has postponed higher education in favor of an acting career, although she has expressed an interest in "continuing to learn."^[5]

Career

Actress

Panettiere at Comic-Con 2007

Panettiere began modeling at the age of five months. She then began appearing in commercials at 11 months, first appearing in an advertisement for Playskool.^[6] 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 when she was seven years old (1996 - 2000). While on Guiding Light, Panettiere's character Lizzie battled leukemia. 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.^[7]

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 New York Comic-Con and Fan Expo Canada. In regards 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'."^[8]

She has appeared in over a dozen full-length feature films, as well as several made-for-TV movies. She provided the voice for Dot in the Pixar CGI animated movie A Bug's Life.^[9] She also played the role of Coach Yoast's daughter, Sheryl, in the 2000 Disney film Remember The Titans. In addition, she appeared as the voice of 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 also appeared in the Disney Channel Original Movie Tiger Cruise playing the main role of a Navy brat.

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.^[10] Forbes estimated that she earned $2 million in 2007.^[11]

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.

Singer

Panettiere was nominated for a Grammy in 1999 forA Bug's Life Read-Along [2000].^[12] Panettiere is featured on the soundtrack to Bring It On: All or Nothing alongside her co-star Solange Knowles. She recorded a song called "My Hero Is You" with a video for the Disney Channel movie she starred in, Tiger Cruise. She recorded a song titled "I Fly" for the Disney movie Ice Princess she co-starred in. She recorded a song for the compilation Girlnext and another song for Girlnext 2. She also recorded a cover for Disneymania 5. She recorded a song titled "Try" for the 2007 Bridge to Terabithia soundtrack and a ballad called "I Still Believe" for Cinderella III: A Twist in Time.

Panettiere's yet-untitled album will be released in 2009 by Hollywood Records with additional promotion provided by the clothing brand Candie's. Panettiere's first single, "Wake Up Call", will be digitally released on August 5 with Candie's premiering an ad campaign for the single in late July. Candie's will also provide additional promotion for the soon to be released single with a television advertisement and a music video.^[13]

Endorsement

In late 2006, Neutrogena made Panettiere the cover girl for their new worldwide ad campaign;^[14] following in the footsteps of actresses Kristin Kreuk, Josie Bissett, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Mandy Moore, Mischa Barton, Gabrielle Union and Jennifer Freeman.

In September 2007, Panettiere appeared in a Heroes-themed Got Milk? ad photographed by Annie Leibovitz.^[15]

In February 2008, Kohl's announced that Panettiere would be their next Candie's spokesperson. She will be following the likes of Fergie and Hilary Duff.^[16]

Personal life

Panettiere with Heroes co-star and boyfriend Milo Ventimiglia

In 2006, Panettiere began dating Stephen Colletti, the former Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, star.^[17] The couple broke up in September 2007.^[18] In December 2007, it was widely reported that she was dating her Heroes costar Milo Ventimiglia,^[19][20] though Panettiere denied these reports in an interview with GQ.^[21] These reports continued through the early part of 2008,^[22][23] and several sources had reported that she asked Ventimiglia to move in with her.^[24][25][26]. In April 2008, during an interview on the BBC's The Chris Moyles Show to promote the second season of Heroes, Ventimiglia confirmed that he is indeed dating Panettiere.^[27]

Activism

On October 31, 2007, Panettiere participated in the activity of Sea Shepherd 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 from Australia and the United States (including former Home and Away star Isabel Lucas) of the group. The confrontation lasted more than ten minutes before the surfers were forced to return to the beach, after which they left the country.^[28] The fishermen consider the condemnation as an attack on their culture.^[29]

Panettiere told E! News that an arrest warrant has been issued in Japan for her interference in the dolphin hunt.^[30] In November 2007, she was awarded the "Compassion in Action Award" from the animal rights group PETA for her efforts to stop the dolphin hunt in Japan.^[31] She is also a vegetarian.^[32][33]

On January 28, 2008, Panettiere handed a letter of protest to the Norwegian ambassador in the United States 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.

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.^[34]

In May 2008, Panettiere was involved in an eBay auction to benefit SaveTheWhalesAgain.com. The auction included tickets to a fundraising dinner hosted at the Hollywood restaurant Beso, owned by Eva Longoria Parker, and a whale watching tour, with Panettiere, off the coast of Santa Barbara.^[35]

Filmography

Discography

Albums

• 2008/2009: Untitled Debut Album

Singles

• ¹ - current single(s).

Soundtracks

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Hayden Panettiere

• Hayden Panettiere's Official Website
• Hayden Panettiere at the Internet Movie Database
• Hayden Panettiere at TV.com
• Hayden Panettiere at MySpace
• Hayden Panettiere at People.com
• Allmusic