In pictures: Hayden Panettiere's life and career, from child actor to Scream star

US actress Hayden Panettiere, best known for her roles in TV series Heroes and Nashville, has died at the age of 36. Her father Skip described her as an "incredible light and a force of nature" in a statement announcing her passing. Panettiere's career spanned three decades with a string of roles in other hit TV shows and films, including the Scream horror film franchise and romantic comedy Raising Helen. Born in August 1989, Panettiere was raised in Palisades, New York, by parents Lesley Vogel, an actress and producer, and Skip, a former firefighter. She had one brother, Jansen Panettiere, who died aged 28 in 2023. 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. Her credits from the late 1990s and early 2000s also included roles in the animated film A Bug's Life, as well as TV shows Ally McBeal and Malcolm in the Middle. She starred alongside Kate Hudson in the 2004 film Raising Helen and was beloved by a generation of fans for playing Britney Allen in teen cheerleading movie Bring It On: All or Nothing in 2006. Her big breakthrough came the same year, when she was cast as another che