Hayden Leslie Panettiere (pronounced “Pan-uh-tee-air”) was born on August 21, 1989 in Palisades, New York. Her parents are Skip and Lesley Panettiere, and Hayden family has Italian roots. Lesley Panettiere got her daughter started in the entertainment industry at a young age, and her hard work paid off: Hayden starred in her first commercial at the young age of 11 months!

When Hayden was about 4½ years old, she was cast on the soap opera One life to Live, playing character Sarah Roberts. She stayed on the show until 1997. When she was 8 years old, Hayden landed a role on the CBS soap opera Guiding Light, and she played character Lizzie Spaulding until 2001.

Hayden in Joe Somebody

Since 1998, Hayden has currently starred, or appeared in, 14 movies: A Bug’s Life playing the voice of Dot, The Object of My Affection playing a mermaid, Message in a Bottle playing a girl on a sinking boat, Dinosaur playing the voice of Suri, Remember the Titans playing Sheryl Yoast, Joe Somebody playing Natalie

Hayden in The Affair of the Necklace

Scheffer, Normal playing Patty Ann, Tiger Cruise playing Maddie Dolan, Raising Helen playing Audrey Davis, The Dust Factoryplaying Melanie Lewis, Lies My Mother Told Me playing Haylei Sims, Racing Stripes playing Channing Walsh, Ice Princess playing Gen Harwood, and Bring It On: All or Nothing playing Britney Allen.

She currently stars as Claire Bennet on NBC’s Heroes. The TV show follows the lives of ordinary people who discover they have superpowers. Claire is a typical high school cheerleader, until she finds out that she can’t be hurt or injured, meaning she is indestructible! Each week on Heroes, Claire’s powers are put to the test, from healing broken bones to fixing burns.

Hayden Panettiere stars in Heroes; one of the most talked about new shows of this season.

When asked about Claire, Hayden has said, “My character deals with a lot of stunt work, which I love, because I like really hands-on things. It keeps me entertained. It keeps me wanting to come into work in the morning. I was absolutely thrilled when I heard that my character was going to be really involved in stunt work… and fire.” Hayden wanted to do Heroes because, “…I've done a lot of stuff like that [Racing Stripes]. The funny thing is that people see one film like Racing Stripes or Ice Princess 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 Remember the Titans, which was very dramatic. They seemingly focus on those and say, "Oh, she's the girl from this and that and that's a different role," but it's really not, because as I grew up, that's what I did and that's what I enjoy doing.”

Hayden in Bring it on: All or Nothing

Besides acting, Hayden has modeled for Neutrogena, a cosmetics and skin-care company. Neutrogena has also had Jennifer Love Hewitt, Mandy Moore, Kristin Kruek, and Mischa Barton model for them.

Hayden and Hilary Duff at the J-Gurlz launch

On top of acting and modeling, Hayden still has time for singing. She has recorded many songs for various movies, such as “I Fly” for Disney’s Ice Princess and “That Girl” for Bring It On: All or Nothing. She recently recorded a song titled “Your New Girlfriend” for Girl Next, a CD with various female singers. Hayden’s debut album is scheduled to be released sometime in 2007.

Overall, Hayden has accomplished a lot in the short time that she has been in the entertainment business, and hopefully her name will be better known in the future. Hayden will be around for a long time, so get to know about her now.