ABC News reported that Hollywood star Hayden Panettiere has tragically died at the age of 36, only days before her 37th birthday. As of writing, her cause of death has not been revealed. Her representative confirmed the news with a statement, expressing “profound sadness” over the news and calling her “an incredible light and a force of nature” who brought nothing but love to everybody in her life:
“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden. 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.”
Panetierre spent most of her life in front of the camera, having started her career as a child actor in 1996, first gaining national recognition for her 27-episode run as Sarah Roberts on ABC’s One Life to Live. She then started a long run of successful Disney movies, including voiceover roles as Dot in 1998’s A Bug’s Life and Suri in 2000’s Dinosaur. Continuing on, she appeared alongside Denzel Washington in 2000’s Remember the Titans and entered the video game world a year later, voicing Kairi in the first two games in the Kingdom Hearts series.
In 2006, Panettiere took on arguably the biggest project of her career, playing the role of Claire Bennet on NBC’s Heroes. Claire was introduced as a high-school cheerleader from Texas who has the power of rapid cellular regeneration. This allowed her to heal from any injury, even coming back from being killed on multiple occasions.
A couple of years later, Panettiere took on her next massive TV role, playing singer Juliette Barnes in the Nashville series on ABC and CMT. Juliette started on the show as an arrogant and ambitious teenage pop-country popstar diva who was determined to take down reigning top singer Rayna James (played by Connie Britton). She goes through plenty of personal trials and growth throughout the series, including a troubled childhood, postpartum depression, surviving a plane crash, and much more.
In the 2010s and beyond, Panettiere entered the horror genre with a role in the Scream franchise, starring as Kirby Reed in 2011’s Scream 4 and returning for 2023’s Scream VI. Kirby was a sarcastic and horror-obsessed high-school student in the first movie, surviving a tense horror-trivia game and eventually getting stabbed twice in the abdomen later. The sixth Scream movie brought Panetierre back as the same character, who had become a hardened FBI agent and traveled to New York to help track down a new group of Ghostface killers.
Overall, Panetierre has 74 acting credits on her resume. In May 2026, Panettiere released a personal memoir titled This Is Me: A Reckoning, which gave her a chance to reflect on her chaotic life as a child star, her experience with domestic abuse, and the loss of her brother Jansen.
The team at MovieWeb sends its heartfelt condolences to Hayden Panettiere’s family, friends, and loved ones during this difficult time.
- Birthdate
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August 21, 1989
- Birthplace
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Palisades, New York, USA
- Birthname
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Hayden Leslie Panettiere
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
