Tom Richardson
BBC Newsbeat

Image source, PlayStation

Hayden Panettiere was best known for her work in TV and film, but she also won over millions of fans via some beloved roles in video games.

The star voiced Kairi in 2002's Kingdom Hearts - a collaboration between Disney and developer Square Enix.

The game, which blended the Japanese game-maker's role-playing style with the worlds and characters of the Magic Kingdom, was a surprise hit.

Panettiere returned for its sequel, released three years later.

She also appeared as the protagonist of 2015's "playable horror movie" Until Dawn. Panettiere turned in a fully motion-captured performance for the PlayStation 4 sleeper hit, made by UK-based studio Supermassive games.

Panettiere's performance as "final girl" Sam was widely praised, and one of the game's writers, Graham Reznick, said it was "hard to overstate how important [she] was to the success of Until Dawn".

"Being able to play a character not just with her voice but her actual likeness - made a huge difference," he writes in a post on Bluesky, external.

Yasmin Rufo
Culture reporter

Image source, Reuters

Hayden Panettiere began working in entertainment as a baby. She started modelling at eight-months-old and appeared in her first commercial for a Playskool toy train at 11 months.

By the age of four, she had landed her first major acting role, playing Sarah Roberts on the US soap opera One Life to Live.

She went on to appear in commercials and television throughout her childhood, including a long-running role as Lizzie Spaulding in Guiding Light.

Panettiere also began building a film career, voicing Dot in the Disney Pixar film A Bug's Life and appearing in Remember the Titans at the age of 10, playing the daughter of Denzel Washington's character's coach.

Her work as a child actor earned her a Young Artist Award for Remember the Titans, while her work on A Bug's Life also earned her a Grammy nomination.

By her mid-teens, Panettiere had already built up more than a decade of experience in front of the camera.

Image source, Getty Images

Oscar winner Viola Davis has paid tribute to her former co-star Hayden Panettiere following the death of the actress.

"What an amazing talent you were... so gifted," Davis wrote on Instagram, describing Panettiere as an "old, wise soul with such a deep heart".

"I wish the world had more time with you because I had a burning curiosity about who you were becoming. I saw this beautiful Phoenix rising from the ashes," adds Davis, who starred alongside Panettiere in The Architect in 2006 and Custody from 2016.

"Your tests became your testimony, and your testimony became your legacy. You will be remembered. Rest well, Hayden," she adds.

Maddie Lake
Live reporter

Image source, Getty Images

In 2023, grief struck Panettiere when her brother Jansen died aged 28 from an enlarged heart.

“He was my only sibling, and it was my job to protect him,” she told People magazine the following year. “When I lost him, I felt like I lost half of my soul.”

The actor said she “will always be heartbroken about it”, adding: “I will never be able to get over it. No matter how many years go by, I will never get over his loss.”

The grief she said also affected her physically. "I just ballooned out," she told People.

"It didn't matter what I did, what I ate. I know stress and cortisol running through your body can do that. Now I think my body was protecting itself, shielding itself from the world."

In a tribute she posted to him in 2025, she said she prayed that he was in "a beautiful place", adding, "I'll see you again".

Yasmin Rufo
Culture reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Hayden Panettiere became a household name after playing cheerleader Claire Bennet in the hit sci-fi series Heroes, which ran from 2006 to 2010 and told the story of ordinary people who have superhuman abilities. She starred on the series for four seasons.

Her character had the ability to heal herself, and the show's famous tagline was "save the cheerleader, save the world”.

Panettiere also dated her co-star Milo Ventimiglia during filming.

Image source, Getty Images

More reaction has been coming in expressing shock and sadness at Hayden Panettiere's death.

American TV host Rosie O’Donnell has shared a picture of Panettiere on Instagram with the caption: "Oh my god – heartbroken."

Meanwhile, fans have also been sharing messages under Panettiere's final Instagram post.

"This one hurts BAD," Gabrielle Egan, known as bbyegan, posted. "Just watched Bring It On with my daughter the other night and told her how iconic Hayden was... she was obsessed... RIP sweet girl."

Keturah Maree writes: "So devastated. I remember as a kid how much you captivated my screen, from Bring It On to Ice Princess always one of my faves."

The actress speaks about her role in Nashville and passion for singing, in BBC archive footage from the early 2010s.

"I started very very young, but I did have a really amazing childhood, and kind of got the best of both worlds," she tells BBC Breakfast in October 2010.

Watch Hayden Pannetiere talking about her life and career in this short video clip:

Yasmin Rufo
Culture reporter

Earlier this year, Hayden Panettiere released her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, reflecting on the struggles of growing up as a child actor and her experiences with addiction, abuse and motherhood.

She wrote of the relentless nature of growing up in the entertainment industry and told the BBC's US partner CBS News that her mother was taking an "eight-month-old baby into audition rooms".

"It went from there and progressed into 50 commercials by the time I was five... It just never stopped," she said.

Her memoir also includes her struggles with mental health, addiction throughout her twenties and the loss of her younger brother, Jansen.

Image source, Getty Images

After the birth of her daughter, Kaya, in 2014, Panettiere revealed that she had entered treatment for postpartum depression.

In 2018 she gave full custody of her daughter to her former partner, Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko.

She said: “I was struggling with mental health and anxiety and the postpartum and having to act my way through it and just feeling like I completely lost myself.”

Speaking to podcaster Jay Shetty after the release of her memoir in May, Panettiere said it was "heartbreaking" that people believed she had simply given up her child, saying that this was "couldn't be further from the truth".

Adam Goldsmith
Live reporter

Image source, NBC via Getty Images

Image source, NBC via Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Yasmin Rufo
Culture reporter

Image source, Get

Panettiere took on one of her most acclaimed roles as Juliette Barnes in the musical drama Nashville, which premiered in 2012.

She played a young, ambitious country-pop singer trying to establish herself in the competitive Nashville music scene and starred alongside Connie Britton.

Her performance earned her two consecutive Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress, in 2013 and 2014.

The actress performed the songs herself for the series and her music became a significant part of the show's success, with 11 songs she recorded for Nashville appearing on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. These included Telescope, Love Like Mine and Undermine.

Krystyna Gajda
Live reporter

Image source, Reuters

Starting life as an actor from a young age, Hayden Pannetiere went on to have a varied career across both TV and cinema. Here's a look at some of the highlights:

• One Life to Live - aged just four years old, Panettiere is cast on the popular US soap opera
• A Bug's Life - she makes her film debut as a nine-year-old, voicing a young ant called Dot, in Pixar's film released in 1998
• Remember the Titans - in 2000, she stars alongside Denzel Washington in the US biographical sports drama
• Heroes - from 2006 to 2010, she finds wider fame in the sci-fi series Heroes, playing Claire Bennet, a cheerleader with healing powers
• She progresses her film career with comedy-drama film Raising Helen (2004) and Bring It On: All Or Nothing (2006) and the romantic comedy, I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009)
• Nashville - Panettiere goes on to star as up-and-coming country singer Juliette Barnes for six series of the TV drama, which runs from 2012 to 2018. She earns two Golden Globe nominations for best supporting actress, and 11 entries on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs charts
• Scream films - she appears as Kirby Reed in Scream 4, released in 2011, and Scream VI, the sixth instalment of the franchise, in 2023

Yasmin Rufo
Culture reporter

Image source, Alamy

Panettiere was beloved by a generation of fans for playing Britney Allen in Bring It On: All or Nothing when she was a teenager.

The 2006 film, the third in the Bring It On series, is a nostalgic favourite for many who grew up watching it.

Panettiere played a popular cheerleader who is forced to transfer schools, joining a new squad before facing her old team in a competition.

The film also featured Solange Knowles and a young Rihanna.

Yasmin Rufo
Culture reporter

Panettiere's Scream VI co-star Melissa Barrera has paid tribute to the actress in an Instagram story, writing "Rest in peace sweet Hayden" alongside a broken heart emoji.

On her Instagram stories, Singer JoJo writes: "This is such devastating news. I am so sorry to hear of her passing. Oh My God."

Meanwhile, actors' union Sag-Aftra, of which the actress had been a member since 1994, writes on X: "Our hearts are with her daughter, family, friends & fans."

Image source, Variety via Getty Images

Stars of cinema and TV, and Hayden Panettiere's fans, have been leaving tributes on her final Instagram post.

Shared on 27 July, the post shows Panettiere sharing a hug with director Randall Slavin.

In the captions below, American actress Selma Blair - known for roles in Cruel Intentions, Legally Blonde and the Hellboy franchise - writes: "I love you. Don't be gone. Please."

Actor Beverley Mitchell, who featured in US television series 7th Heaven, comments: "Praying the news is wrong! You are such a bright light and soooo loved".

US entertainment journalist KJ Matthews has been speaking to our colleagues on the BBC News channel.

Matthews calls Hayden Panettiere's death a "huge shock".

Three months ago, Panettiere released a memoir titled This Is Me: A Reckoning, for which she had a press tour scheduled.

"People were rooting for her and really thought this year was going to be her year," Matthews says, adding:

"She wrote the memoir, she was doing a press tour, she was out there talking about how she had a great relationship with her daughter and that she had worked out so many of her addiction issues.

"So to hear this news... is really just shocking."

A blurb for the memoir on publisher Headline's website says the book sees the star "opening up about postpartum depression, addiction and recovery, trauma, domestic abuse, and loss".

Yang Tian
Live reporter

Image source, Reuters

Beginning her career as a child actor, Hayden Panettiere was just four years old when she was cast on the popular US soap opera One Life to Live.

She later rose to fame playing Claire Bennet in the popular sci-fi series Heroes, which ran from 2006 to 2010.

Panettiere's career spanned three decades with a string of roles in other hit TV shows and films, including the Scream horror franchise and the romantic comedies Raising Helen and I Love You, Beth Cooper.

Earlier this year, she released a memoir titled This Is Me: A Reckoning, recounting the struggles of growing up as a child actor and her experiences with addiction, abuse and later recovery.

Panettiere is survived by her daughter Kaya with her former partner, Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko.

Image source, Reuters

Hayden Panettiere’s father, Skip Panettiere, has described his "profound sadness" at his daughter’s death.

In a statement, which has now been shared with the BBC, he says:

"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.

"We ask for privacy as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss."

Actress Hayden Panettiere, who starred in TV shows Heroes and Nashville has died aged 36.

Announcing her death in a statement reported by the BBC’s US partner CBS News, her father Skip Panettiere describes her as “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”.

She began her career as a child actor, and was just four years old when cast on popular US soap opera One Life to Live.

Panettiere went on to play a cheerleader with superpowers in Heroes - which ran from 2006 to 2020 - and had other memorable roles, including in films Remember the Titans and Raising Helen.

The details surrounding her death were not immediately available. We’ll have reaction through the morning.