Hayden Panettiere

Born: 21 August 1989

Died: 16 August 2026

Age: 36

Years Active: 1990–2026

Hayden Lesley Panettiere (August 21, 1989 – August 16, 2026) was an American actress and singer. She first appeared on-screen in a commercial in 1990 when she was 11 months old, and by age five, she had appeared in more than 50 commercials. Her first major television roles were as Sarah Roberts in the soap opera One Life to Live (1994–1997) and Lizzie Spaulding in the soap opera Guiding Light (1996–2000). She then earned a Grammy nomination for the animated film A Bug's Life (1998), making her the fifth-youngest nominee for the award.

Panettiere continued to develop her career with roles in live-action animated film Dinosaur (2000), the biographical sports film Remember the Titans (2000), the legal drama series Ally McBeal (2002), the comedy film Racing Stripes (2005), and the drama film Ice Princess (2005). She gained wide recognition for portraying Claire Bennet in the superhero series Heroes (2006–2010), winning the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. Further fame came with her portrayals of Kirby Reed in the slasher franchise Scream (2011–2023) and Juliette Barnes in the musical drama series Nashville (2012–2018), earning nominations for two Golden Globes for Best Supporting Actress.

Outside of big-screen projects, Panettiere voiced Kairi and Xion in the video game franchise Kingdom Hearts (2002–2017) and Samantha "Sam" Giddings in the horror game Until Dawn (2015), and towards the end of her career, she starred in a number of direct-to-video films. On August 16, 2026, she died at age 36.

Hoodwinked Too! Hood VS. Evil (2011)