Hayden Panettiere : Role: Claire Bennet
Birthday : 21st August 1989
Birthplace : Palisades, New York, NY, USA
Recent Role : Claire Bennet on Heroes
Birth Name : Hayden Leslie Panettiere
Height : 5' 1" (1.55 m)
Gender : Female

Hayden Panettiere is an American actress and singer who was born to a former soap opera actress Lesley R. Vogel, and Alan L. "Skip" Panettiere who was a lieutenant in the fire department. She has one younger brother named Jansen Panettiere, who is also an actor. She attended the South Orangetown Middle School in New York till her seventh grade, after which she was given home tuition to complete her high school studies. Although she is interested in continuing her education, she has postponed the same for the time in order to pursue her acting career. She has various hobbies which include singing, dancing, horseback riding, gymnastics, karate, playing piano, boxing and swimming. In 2006, Hayden dated former Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, star, Stephen Colletti but later broke up with him in September 2007. Although the actress earlier denied the reports, it has now been confirmed that she is currently dating Milo Ventimiglia, her co-star on Heroes.

Thanks to her mother, Hayden started modeling when she was only four months old and appeared in her first commercial at the age of eleven months. Since then she has appeared in over 50 commercials, 21 television shows and 19 movies. On television she has acted in shows like One Life to Live, The Guiding Light, Ally McBeal, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Malcolm in the Middle and Robot Chicken etc., besides playing the role of Claire Bennet in Heroes. She has acted in movies like A Bug’s Life, Remember the Titans, Raising Helen, Ice Princess, The Architect, Fireflies in the Garden and The Good Student. She has also appeared in the video Bring It On: All or Nothing and Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King besides performing in the soundtrack of Tiger Cruise, The Dust Factory and Shanghai Kiss etc. In addition she has appeared as herself on numerous shows like Heroes Unmasked, Late Show With David Letterman, Entertainment Tonight, Today, Punk’d and Total Request Live etc. As a singer she has released a few singles, a couple of music videos and a handful of albums and compilations. She has also been nominated for eight different awards besides winning six other awards.

Role In Heroes

In Heroes, she plays the role of Claire Bennet. At the start of the series she becomes aware of her special powers and is afraid as she does not know exactly how they are going to affect her. She possesses the special power of rapid cell regeneration which makes her indestructible. She is the adopted daughter of Noah Bennet and after discovering her powers she desperately searches for her biological parents who turn out to be Nathan Petrelli and Meredith Gordon. She is one of the central characters and tries to use her powers to save the world from destruction.