Hayden Leslie Panettiere was born on 21st August 1989 in Palisades, New York. She still lives in New York with her parents, Lesley and Skip Panettiere, and younger brother Jansen Panettiere. Her mom got her 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. But she is probably best known in the United States for her role as "Claire" on the hit TV show Heroes.

As for movies, Hayden starred in Remember the Titans with Denzel Washington and Joe Somebody with Tim Allen. When Hayden isn't working, she enjoys singing, dancing, horseback riding, gymnastics, taking piano lessons, and swimming.

She has been involved with many animated movies, beginning with A Bug's Life as "Dot", later to follow was Dinosaur, the video game Kingdom Hearts, and The Mark of Kri. Her next movie is Racing Stripes, a partly animated film, but Hayden will star in the human role; other cast members include the voices of Whoopi Goldberg, Dustin Hoffman, Joshua Jackson and Mandy Moore.

In 2003, she joined the likes of Jessica Lange, Tom Wilkinson, and Clancy Brown in Jane Anderson's Normal a film about a Midwestern husband and father who announces his plans to have a sex-change operation. In July of the same year, Hayden appeared in a John Guare play, "Landscape of the Body", for the Williamstown theater festival in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Began her acting career at 11 months when she appeared in a commercial for Playskool. Has appeared in over 50 commercials. 2000: Childstarlets.com's Actress of the Year. Parents are Lesley R. Vogel, a former soap opera actress, and Alan L. "Skip" Panettiere, a fire department lieutenant. Coincidentally, her first rescue on Heroes was from a train wreck fire. She takes karate and boxing lessons. 7/21/98: Soap Opera Magazine's star of the week. Appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on December 30, 1998. In Guiding Light, for Hayden's character Lizzie's battle with leukemia, the show received a Special Recognition Award from The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for bringing national awareness of the disease to the attention of daytime viewers. As Lizzie Spaulding on Guiding Light, Hayden had to deal with difficult story lines in which she shot and killed her mother's abuser, been kidnapped, gone through both of her parents remarrying, and just recently battled leukemia. 2000: Was nominated for a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for A Bug's Life Read-Along. Hobbies include singing, dancing, horseback riding, gymnastics, taking piano lessons and swimming. Her last name was printed wrong in an issue of the "Discovery Girls" magazine where she was considered an "Exceptional Tween". Her mother used to be a soap opera actress. Was originally cast to play Sarah Altman in Panic Room but was later replaced by Kristen Stewart. Older sister of Jansen Panettiere, with whom she co-starred in Tiger Cruise. Hayden considers him "the greatest present our dad and mom ever gave me". She has known Spencer Breslin and Abigail Breslin (her Raising Helen co-stars) before they could talk. Her last name is pronounced "Pan-Uh-Tee-Air-Ee"; the Italian translation is "Baker". Has a partnership with United States Postal Inspection Service and the National Center For Missing And Exploited Children in a campaign against online predators, called 2 SMRT 4U. Is best friends with Daniella Morris. Has two dogs, named Penny Lane and Madison. Is vegan and a supporter of ALF (Animal Liberation Front). Girlfriend of Milo Ventimiglia. In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated her earnings for the year at $2 million. The second-ever recipient of The Wyler Award (which honors a celebrity who has raised awareness of animal issues) for her on-the-ground work to expose Japan's slaughter of dolphins.