Black and white portrait

Panettiere began modeling at the age of four months. She then began appearing in commercials at 11 months, first appearing in an advertisement for Playskool.^[6] 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 Hayden Panettiere Krump 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.^[7]

Panettiere told E! News that an arrest warrant has been issued in Japan for her interference in the dolphin hunt but her claim was later dismissed as not true by the Japanese Fisheries Agency.^[32][33] In November 2007, she was awarded the "Compassion in Action Award" from the animal hilalary duff rights group PETA for her efforts to stop the dolphin hunt in Japan.^[34] She is also a vegetarian.^[35][36] Her activism was, however, criticized by most of the Japanese media since the public regarded this as an offense to their culture (see Taiji, Wakayama for details).

Panettiere was born and raised in Palisades, Rockland County, New York.^[2] She has one younger brother, fellow actor Jansen Panettiere.^[3]