Heroes, Scream Star Hayden Panettiere Passes Away At 36

Hayden Panettiere, the actress best known to fans for her roles in Heroes, Nashville, and the Scream franchise, has passed away. Panettiere’s representative confirmed to ABC News in a statement that the actress passed on Sunday. Details were not made available about her passing, though TMZ reports that she and her boyfriend Brian Hickerson flew from Los Angeles to the south on Saturday. She was 36 years old.

The statement from her rep said:

“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.”

Born in New York to former soap actress Lesley R. Vogel and NYFD captain Alan Lee Panettiere, Panettiere had her first screen appearance at just 11 months old when she appeared in an ad for Playskool in 1990. She was acting just four years after than when she played Sarah Roberts on One Life to Live from 1994 to 1997, then appeared on Guiding Light from 1997 to 2000.

Panettiere would continue to work as she grew up, becoming a household name with her breakout role as Claire Bennet on NBC’s superhero television series Heroes. She was main star of the show for all four seasons, though she did not return for the revival Heroes Reborn in 2015 and was seen only through archival footage.

The actress followed up her role in Heroes with Nashville, where she played lead character Juliette Barnes from 2012 through 2018.

Panettiere was active on film as well, starring in such films as Remember the Titans in 2000, Ice Princess in 2005, and the teen romcom I Love You, Beth Cooper in 2009. Her most prominent film role was Kirby Reed in Scream 4, the film expert of that particular entry in the slasher franchise. She was seemingly killed off in the movie, but her death was not definitive and fans called for her return to the series. After a cameo in 2022’s Scream, she finally returned officially with Scream 6, where Kirby had become an FBI agent following the new crop of Ghostface murders in New York.

Panettiere also voiced the role of Kairi in the Kingdom Hearts video game franchise, and Sam Giddings in Until Dawn. She released her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning in May of this year, where she talked about feeling groomed into the industry and her battles with postpartum depression, alcoholism and abusive relationships, while also coming out as bisexual.

On behalf of 411, our condolences to the family, friends, and many fans of Hayden Panettiere. She will be missed.