Who Was Hayden Panettiere? Remembering the Late "Heroes" Star

Hayden was born on August 21, 1989, making her death just days shy of her 37th birthday. Raised in Palisades, New York, she was the daughter of Lesley R. Vogel, a former soap opera actress, and Alan Lee Panettiere, a captain in the New York City Fire Department.

Hayden had a younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, who also worked as an actor. He passed away in 2023 at age 28 due to cardiomegaly, or an enlarged heart, coupled with aortic valve complications.

Hayden’s on-screen career began when she was just 11 months old, when she appeared in a commercial for toy brand Playskool. She went on to land roles in soap operas One Life to Live and Guiding Light.

At nine years old, she earned a Young Artist Award nomination for her performance in the 1999 television film If You Believe.

Perhaps one of Hayden’s most beloved performances is one where she never appeared on camera. In the 1998 animated movie A Bug’s Life, she voiced Princess Dot, a young ant known for her sweet voice and personality. In the Pixar film released by Disney, a young Hayden was part of an ensemble voice cast that included Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Phyllis Diller, and Dave Foley.

As she entered her teenage years, Hayden began taking on roles that would become some of her most recognizable work. She played cheerleaders in Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006), as Britney Allen, and Heroes (2006–2010), as Claire Bennet. She later played another popular high school student, Beth Cooper, in I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009).

Through her role as Claire, Hayden became closely associated with the now-iconic Heroes line, “Save the cheerleader, save the world,” which became a defining phrase of the series and part of its promotional campaign.

Aside from acting, Hayden was an avid activist who spoke out against whale and dolphin hunting. In 2007, she joined The Whaleman Foundation and became involved in a confrontation with Japanese fishermen while attempting to disrupt the annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Wakayama.

She continued her advocacy through the Save the Whales Again! campaign, serving as its spokesperson and taking part in a rally in Washington, D.C., in January 2008. During her visit, she also spoke with policymakers and students and met with representatives from the embassies of Japan, Norway, and Iceland to discuss whaling practices.

Earlier this year, Hayden released a memoir recounting her experiences with romantic breakups, postpartum depression, and addiction. In This Is Me: A Reckoning, the actress also revealed that she identifies as bisexual.

"That's something about me I was never able to share with the world, because it was just never the right time... I was not encouraged to just be myself," she told US Magazine in an interview. She also shared that she had tried dating women, but often felt the pressure of paparazzi and public scrutiny. Despite this, Hayden was happy to have finally shared that part of herself with the world.

She said, “It was a very difficult topic to articulate properly. It’s sad I had to wait until I was 36 years old to share that part of me, but better late than never, right?”