Hayden Panettiere did not wait long to begin her career. When she was just 11 months old, her mother got her a part in a commercial for Playskool toys. By the time she was 4 -- and with almost 50 commercial appearances under her belt -- Hayden was chosen for a role on the soap opera One Life to Live, which she kept until 1997.

During that stint, Hayden Panettiere became a more seasoned actress with roles on Guiding Light, the miniseries A Will of Their Own and the film The Object of My Affection (1998). After lending her voice to the Disney animated films A Bug's Life (1998) and Dinosaur (2000), Hayden won the role of a football coach's daughter in Disney's Remember the Titans -- arguably one of her most eminent roles.

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Hayden Leslie Panettiere (born August 21, 1989) is an American actress, singer, and Grammy Award nominee. She is perhaps best known for her role on the NBC series Heroes as Claire Bennet. She also appeared as the voice actress for the role of Kairi in the Square Enix Kingdom Hearts series.

Panettiere began modeling at the age of 5 months. She then began appearing in commercials at 11 months, first appearing in an advertisement for Playskool. She landed a role as Sarah Roberts on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live (1994- 1997) and later as Lizzie Spaulding on the CBS soap opera Guiding Light when she was seven years old (1996 - 2000). While on Guiding Light, Panettiere's character Lizzie battled leukemia. The show received a Special Recognition Award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for bringing national awareness of the disease to the attention of daytime viewers.
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