Hayden Leslie Panettiere was born on 21st August 1989 in Palisades, New York. Hayden still lives with her parents Lesley & Skip and younger brother Jansen. Her mom got Hayden 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, where she remained until 1997. Since then, she has gone on to appear in many feature films and TV movies. Before 'Heroes' Hayden was probably best known in the United States for her role as Lizzie Spaulding, whom she has portrayed since 1996, on the daytime drama Guiding Light. 

Hayden has starred in Remember the Titans with Denzil Washington and Joe Somebody with Tim Allen. Hayden grew up in a suburb of New York City with her parents, younger brother, Jansen, and a houseful of animals. She recently made the move to Los Angeles because her role in 'Heroes' demands her to be on set filming almost all week. When Hayden isn't working, she enjoys hanging with her friends, singing, dancing, equestrian, volleyball, and has even tried her hand in surfing!

Hayden has been involved with many animated movies, beginning with A Bug's Life (as Dot), later to follow was Dinosaur. Kingdom Hearts and The Mark of Kri, were also voice overs but for Playstation 2 Video Games. Hayden then joined the likes of Jessica Lang, Tom Wilkinson, Jane Anderson and Clacy Brown in 'Normal' the movie about a midwestern husband and father that announces his plans to have a sex change operation, the movie made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival. Also in July 2003 Hayden appeared in a John Guare play called, "Landscape of the Body", for the Williams town theatre festival, in Williamstown Massachusetts. 'Raising Helen' co-staring with Kate Hudson, was a big hit for Hayden, opening the eyes of many young teenagers. The Dust Factory where she has the star lead as Melanie Lewis, 'Tiger Cruise' co-staring Bill Pullman a movie based on the September 11th events did well as a tv movies. Hayden sang the movie theme song for the movie.

Racing Stripes has also been great for Hayden internationally. The movie was a big success for not just kids but adults too. Hayden recently released Disney's Ice princess co-staring Michelle Trachtenberg, which made it to number 3 at the box office. Shortly after the TV Movie, Lies My Mother Told Me was released on Lifetime Television, Hayden co-stared with Joely Richardson.

More recently, Hayden starred in the independent film "The Architect" opposite Anthony LaPaglia and Isabella Rosselini which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and "Mr. Gibb" for Kevin Spacey's company, Triggerstreet. Hayden has the lead in teen movie "Bring it On: All or Nothing," the sequel to Universal's box office hit. She co-stars in the upcoming romantic comedy"Shanghai Kiss".

Most recently Hayden stars as Claire Bennet, a high school cheerleader in Odessa, Texas, who learns through trial-and-error that her flesh is indestructible. "Heroes" follows the lives of ordinary people who discover they possess extraordinary abilities. Starring opposite Greg Grunberg, Ali Larter and others. This show has been a huge success and can be seen on Mondays at 9/8c . Hayden has signed on for a 6 year contract.

Adding to her accomplishments, Hayden has been named the new face of Neutrogena and has appeared in both print and tv ads. She is an ambassador, along with fellow ambassadors Nelson Mandela and Queen Noor, for the ICUN Wildlife Foundation, an organization that helps raise funds to support and save endangered species. She recently received Movieline's Hollywood Life Magazine's Young Hollywood Exciting New Face/ Female Award for 2005. She also has been spending time in the recording studio working on her own debut CD through Hollywood Records. Her debut album is due in May 2007. "I am very excited because I am in negotiations with a record company. Singing has always been a passion of mine and it's really great to be able to have both experiences, singing and acting. In acting you are portraying someone other then yourself and in singing you get to be yourself ".

Her Resume | Facts are here | Awards Won