Biography of Hayden Panettiere (a.k.a.: Hayden Lesley Panettiere)

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Hayden Lesley Panettiere is an American actress, model, and singer. She is best known for her starring role as Claire Bennet on the NBC superhero series Heroes . And Juliette Barnes in the ABC/CMT musical drama series Nashville . The latter of which earned her two nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film.

A native of New York, she first appeared in a commercial at the age of eleven months. Her full-time acting career began by playing Sarah Roberts on One Life to Live and Lizzie Spaulding on Guiding Light.

Panettiere went on to star in the Disney sports drama film Remember the Titans, the comedy-drama film Raising Helen, the sports comedy film Racing Stripes, the figure skating drama film Ice Princess, the comedy film I Love You, Beth Cooper, the true crime drama film Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy, the slasher horror film Scream 4 , and the drama film Custody. She also voiced the characters of Kairi and Xion in the video game series Kingdom Hearts and Samantha "Sam" Giddings in the video game Until Dawn .

Panettiere was born in and partly raised in Palisades, New York. She is the daughter of Lesley R. Vogel, a former soap opera actress, and Alan Lee "Skip" Panettiere, a fire captain. She has one younger brother, actor Jansen Panettiere. Her mother's family lives in Indiana.

After Panettiere attended South Orangetown Middle School in New York, she was homeschooled and had private tutors from grade nine to the completion of high school to accommodate her acting schedule.