Hayden Panettiere

Date of Birth
21 August 1989, Palisades, New York, USA

Birth Name
Hayden Leslie Panettiere

Nickname
Mushroom
Hayd

Height
5' 4½" (1.64 m)

Mini Biography
Hayden Leslie Panettiere was born on 21st August 1989 in Palisades, New York. She still lives in New York with her parents, Lesley Vogel and Skip Panettiere, and younger brother Jansen Panettiere. Her mom got her started in the business by doing commercials when she was just 11 months old. Then, at only 4 1/2, she was cast on the soap opera "One Life to Live" (1968), where she remained until 1997. Since then, she has gone on to appear in many feature films and TV movies. But she is probably best known in the United States for her role as "Claire" on the hit TV show "Heroes" (2006/II).

As for movies, Hayden starred in Remember the Titans (2000) with Denzel Washington and Joe Somebody (2001) with Tim Allen. When Hayden isn't working, she enjoys singing, dancing, horseback riding, gymnastics, taking piano lessons, and swimming.

She has been involved with many animated movies, beginning with A Bug's Life (1998) as "Dot", later to follow was Dinosaur (2000), the video game Kingdom Hearts (2002) (VG), and The Mark of Kri (2002) (VG). Her next movie is Racing Stripes (2005), a partly animated film, but Hayden will star in the human role; other cast members include the voices of Whoopi Goldberg, Dustin Hoffman, Joshua Jackson and Mandy Moore.

In 2003, she joined the likes of Jessica Lange, Tom Wilkinson, and Clancy Brown in Jane Anderson's Normal (2003) (TV) a film about a Midwestern husband and father who announces his plans to have a sex-change operation. In July of the same year, Hayden appeared in a John Guare play, "Landscape of the Body", for the Williamstown theater festival in Williamstown, Massachusetts.


Trivia
Began her acting career at 11 months when she appeared in a commercial for Playskool.

Has appeared in over 50 commercials.

2000: Childstarlets.com's Actress of the Year.

Parents are: Lesley Vogel, a former soap opera actress; and Alan L. "Skip" Panettiere, a fire department lieutenant. Coincidentally, Hayden's first rescue on "Heroes" (2006/II) was from a train wreck fire.

7/21/98: Soap Opera Magazine's star of the week.

Appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (1992) on December 30, 1998.

In "The Guiding Light" (1952), for Hayden's character Lizzie's battle with 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.

As Lizzie Spaulding on "The Guiding Light" (1952), Hayden had to deal with difficult story lines in which she shot and killed her mother's abuser, been kidnapped, gone through both of her parents remarrying, and just recently battled leukemia.

2000: Was nominated for a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for A Bug's Life (1998) Read-Along.

Hobbies include singing, dancing, horseback riding, gymnastics, karate, playing piano, boxing and swimming.

Her last name was printed wrong in an issue of the "Discovery Girls" magazine where she was considered an "Exceptional Tween".

Was originally cast to play Sarah Altman in Panic Room (2002) but was later replaced by Kristen Stewart.

Elder sister of Jansen Panettiere, with whom she co-starred in Tiger Cruise (2004) (TV). Hayden considers him "the greatest present our dad and mom ever gave me".

She has known Spencer Breslin and Abigail Breslin (her Raising Helen (2004) co-stars) before they could talk.

Her last name is pronounced "Pan-Uh-Tee-Air-Ee"; the Italian translation is "Baker".

Has a partnership with United States Postal Inspection Service and the National Center For Missing And Exploited Children in a campaign against online predators, called 2 SMRT 4U.

Is best friends with Daniella Morris.

Has two dogs, named Penny Lane and Madison.

Is a vegetarian.

Ex-girlfriend of Milo Ventimiglia. They were together from 2008-2009.

In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated her earnings for the year at $2 million.

An active supporter of ALF (Animal Liberation Front), she is the second-ever recipient of The Wyler Award (which honors a celebrity who has raised awareness of animal issues) for her on-the-ground work to expose Japan's slaughter of dolphins.

Voted #5 in FHM 100 Sexiest 2008.

Voted #6 in FHM 100 Sexiest 2007.

Ranked #13 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2008 list.

Ranked #1 on Wizard magazine's "Sexiest Women of TV" list (March 2008).

Broke up with Milo Ventimiglia on Valentine's Day, 2009.

Is a big fan of "24" (2001).

Is being considered for the role of Ariel Moore in Footloose (2011) along with Miley Cyrus, Julianne Hough and Amanda Bynes.

Despite impressing producers with her audition, she lost out the role of Ariel Moore in Footloose (2011) to Julianne Hough.

She loves bathing suits and never has a problem with wearing one for the camera.

Along with other protesters including Isabel Lucas, Hayden Panettiere paddled out on surfboards to a pod of dolphins off the coast of Taiji/Japan to protest the killing of dolphins on Thursday 1st of November 2007. This action is mentioned in the documentary The Cove (2009).

Boyfriend: Wladimir Klitschko.

Was ranked #30 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 of 2010 list.


Personal Quotes
When the camera comes on, I am not Hayden any more, I am Lizzie!

I hate how people say I'm growing up fast.

You go on these Internet blogs and people say the meanest things. I'm a normal person. Just because I'm in the spotlight doesn't mean I'm God's gift to the world. I'm learning and making mistakes just like every other 17-year-old girl out there.

The funny thing is that people see one film like Racing Stripes (2005) or Ice Princess (2005) and all of a sudden, slip me into this category of "that's what she's always involved in" but people don't remember that I did Normal (2003) (TV) with Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson for HBO, which was very dramatic. They don't remember that I did Lies My Mother Told Me (2005) (TV) which was the Lifetime film with Joely Richardson and Colm Feore, which was also extremely dramatic. They don't remember that I did Remember the Titans (2000).

I know it's really gory, and a lot of people's stomachs will probably not like me for it, but that is just awesome, just being able to be bloodied up and have different body parts put on. That's right up my alley. It's so awesome.

I think at the age I'm at, it's really hard for a film career, and I'm at a point in my life where I thought it would be a good idea to be a part of a good show and to be able to finish school.


Where Are They Now
(December 2004) Still living in Palisades, New York, where she grew up.

(2006) Starring in NBC's hit TV show, "Heroes" (2006/II).

(June 2010) Filming Scream 4(2011) in Ann Arbor, Michigan.