Hayden Panettiere, the actress who grew from a child performer into one of television’s most recognizable stars through roles in Heroes and Nashville, has died at 36.
Her family confirmed her death through her publicist. A cause of death has not been made public.
Panettiere spent nearly her entire life in entertainment, beginning her career as a child and accumulating credits across television, film, voice acting and music.
For millions of viewers, however, she became a star as Claire Bennet on NBC’s Heroes. Playing a high school cheerleader with extraordinary regenerative abilities, Panettiere became one of the faces of the superhero drama during its original run.
She later took on one of the defining roles of her career as Juliette Barnes in Nashville. Her portrayal of the ambitious and complicated country singer demonstrated both her dramatic and musical abilities and earned Panettiere two Golden Globe nominations.
Her film work stretched across several genres and generations of moviegoers. As a young actress, she appeared in Remember the Titans and provided the voice of Dot in Pixar’s A Bug’s Life. Years later, horror audiences embraced her as Kirby Reed in Scream 4, a role she eventually returned to in Scream VI.
Panettiere’s life away from the screen also became increasingly public. She spoke candidly about struggles with addiction and postpartum depression and about the pressures that accompanied entering show business at an exceptionally young age.
Earlier in 2026, she revisited those experiences in her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, offering a personal account of the difficult periods that existed alongside her professional success.
Her family had already endured a devastating loss with the death of her younger brother, actor Jansen Panettiere, in 2023.
Panettiere leaves behind a career spanning more than three decades and characters remembered by audiences ranging from superhero television fans to country drama devotees and horror movie enthusiasts.
She is survived by her daughter, Kaya, and her parents.
