Since she was 11 months old and began her career by appearing in a commercial for Playskool, actress Hayden Panettiere consistently worked on television and in feature films. Her mother – a former actress – thought she would get some nice baby pictures out of seeing her only daughter in commercials, which precipitated bringing her on auditions. At four years old, she landed a regular role as Sarah Roberts on the daytime soap opera “One Life to Live” (ABC, 1968- ), where she stayed until 1996. She went on to land another regular role on daytime as Lizzie Spaulding in “Guiding Light” (CBS, 1952- ), while appearing in guest spots on the short-lived sci-fi comedy “Aliens in the Family” (ABC, 1996) and “Touched by an Angel” (CBS, 1994-2003).
Though her official film debut was in the festival dark comedy “Pants on Fire” (1997), her first theatrically released movie was “Object of My Affection” (1998), starring Jennifer Aniston. After voicing Princess Dot in “A Bug’s Life” (1998), she got a small part in “Message in a Bottle” (1999) as a girl on a sinking boat, then played the 10-12 year-old version of Doris Duke, an eccentric heiress who inherited $100 million at 13, in “Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke” (CBS, 1999). While maintaining a steady acting career, Panettiere attended South Orangetown Middle School in her native New York, but in eighth grade started home schooling instead. Meanwhile, she gained more prominent feature roles, including one in “Remember the Titans” (2000) where she played a nine-year-old football-obsessed daughter of a demoted high school coach – a role she played with considerable pluck.
After voicing Suri, the tomboy dinosaur daughter in “Dinosaur” (2000), Panettiere played yet another feisty and precocious pre-teen in “Joe Somebody” (2000), the woebegone Tim Allen comedy about a beaten-down loser who finally gets his chance to become somebody. She then played a Young Jeanne to Hilary Swank’s older Comtesse Jeanne de la Motte-Valois in “The Affair of the Necklace” (2001), a dry and pretentious period film about a cunning woman (Swank) who masterminds a conspiracy to incriminate the rich and famous in the waning years of 18th century France. Panettiere returned to television with a regular role in the final season of “Ally McBeal” (Fox, 1997-2002), appearing as Maddie Harrington, the long-lost daughter of Ally (Calista Flockhart) who was the result of an egg donation gone wrong from ten years before. Meanwhile, Panettiere continued her string of playing spirited teens in the much-maligned “Raising Helen” (2003), playing a troubled 15-year-old suddenly in the care of her happy-go-lucky fashion model sister-in-law (Kate Hudson).
In “Normal” (HBO, 2003), she played the teenage daughter struggling to figure out why her dad (Tom Wilkinson) suddenly wants to have a sex change operation. She next appeared as a precocious and beautiful girl who befriends a teenager (Ryan Kelley) after a near-fatal accident propels him into a fantasy world in the little-seen fairy tale, “The Dust Factory” (2003). In “Tiger Cruise” (2004), a Disney Channel original movie, she played the daughter of a Navy commander (Bill Pulman) who tries to convince her dad to retire in the midst of the sudden mobilization of his ship to deal with the events of September 11, 2001. For “Racing Stripes” (2005), she traveled to South Africa to frolic with live zebras, appearing as one of two flesh-and-blood characters in the otherwise animated Warner Bros. feature. Next up, she landed a leading role in “Ice Princess” (2005), playing Gen Harwood, a skating prodigy who is ruthlessly competing on the US National circuit. Though reviews were mixed, box office totals were definitive: the Disney coming-of-age drama failed to impress the most discerning of judges – the audience.
Panettiere next starred in the second straight-to-video sequel “Bring It On: All or Nothing” (2006), playing the daughter of wealthy parents who tries to make the cheerleading squad at her new high school after moving to a less-than-desirable neighborhood. After appearing in an episode of the failed “Commander in Chief” (ABC, 2005-06), she played the innocent and unaware daughter of an expert con artist (Joely Richardson) who resorts to murder and deception to cover her dark past. She returned to the silver screen to costar in “The Architect” (2006), playing the sexually curious teenage daughter of an idealistic architect (Anthony LaPaglia) whose involvement in the demolition of a dangerous Chicago housing project forces him to confront issues with his family he’d rather not face.
Already a fast rising up-and-comer, Panettiere was vaulted into the limelight with “Heroes” (NBC, 2006- ), a comic book-like drama about 11 seemingly ordinary people from around the world who begin to discover they have supernatural powers because of gene mutations they’ve had since birth. Panettiere was one of the central characters in the ensemble cast, playing Claire Bennet, a high school cheerleader who learns that she’s indestructible and becomes a target for destruction by Sylar (Zachary Quinto), an unhinged wanna-be superhero on a mission to kill the others in order to gain their special powers. The mission to save Panettiere’s character led the other heroes to “Save the cheerleader, save the world” – a catchy line of dialogue-turned-slick advertising catchphrase that introduced a brief, but memorable addition to the cultural zeitgeist.