Actress Hayden Panettiere, best known to many fans for her role as Claire Bennet in the NBC TV series Heroes and for playing Kirby Reed in the Screammovie franchise, among other films and shows, has passed away. ABC News brings word of her death, with a statement from her representatives confirming it. No details about the circumstances of Panettiere’s death were confirmed, but TMZ reports that she passed away earlier today. Panettiere was 36.
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“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” their statement reads. “She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her — and to the millions who watched her onscreen.”
Hayden Panettiere Dies at 36
Born August 21, 1989, Hayden Panettiere began her acting career before she was even a year old, starring in ads for Playskool as an eleven-month-old. From there, she quickly started booking roles on bigger stages, starring in the ABC soap opera One Life to Live when she was just five, before jumping to another soap, CBS’ Guiding Light, which she would appear on for four years.
In addition to guest roles on shows like Ally McBeal and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Panettiere would continue to act on the big and small screen, but her biggest role yet came in 2006 with Tim Kring’s Heroes. Inspired by comic books and superheroes, Hayden Panettiere’s character Claire became the focal point for the entire series in a major way, with the early marketing for the show centering around her with the iconic catchphrase “Save the cheerleader, save the world.” She would go on to appear in 73 episodes of the original run of the series.
Heroes was just Hayden Panettiere’s first major role on the small screen, but far from her last. In 2015, she starred in the drama series Nashville as the country singer Juliette Barnes, appearing opposite Connie Britton and leading more than 120 episodes of the show. She previously earned two Golden Globe nominations for her role in the series.
A major credit early in Panettiere’s career that many fans may have forgotten about, or simply not realized, also came early in her time as a performer, with Panettiere providing the voice for the young ant Dot in A Bug’s Life, marking her first movie. Another early credit in Panettiere’s career was the 2000 film Remember the Titans.
Panettiere would deliver yet another iconic character for her career in 2011, when she debuted as Kirby Reed in Scream 4, putting a spin on the meta movie nerd tropes that the franchise had previously established. She would reprise her character again in 2023’s Scream VI, with Kirby now an FBI agent willing to go to extreme lengths to catch a new Ghostface killer.
In addition to acting, Panettiere was a gifted singer as well, releasing multiple singles. Though many were also associated with the Nashville TV series, several were released well before she joined the cast for the series. She was even nominated for a Grammy as a child for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for an A Bug’s Life tie-in book. Panettiere released her own memoir earlier this year, This Is Me: A Reckoning, which chronicled not only her young acting career but the trials that came along with fame and reaching adulthood.
Panettiere is survived by her daughter, Kaya Evdokia Klitschko, whom she had with her former partner and former heavyweight boxing champion, Wladimir Klitschko. Our thoughts go out to her family, friends, and loved ones during this time.
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