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Hayden Panettiere: from Child Star to Cheerleader — and Beyond

By: Bret Love

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Born in 1989 in Palisades, N.Y., Hayden Panettiere has been a working actress since the age of 11 months, when her mother (former soap opera actress Lesley Vogel) got her started by doing a commercial for Playskool. By the age of 4 she was already a TV star, playing Lizzie Spalding on “Guiding Light,” where she appeared for four years in dramatic storylines involving kidnapping, abuse, murder and leukaemia.

I first met Panettiere over nine years ago, shortly before her 11th birthday. We’d gone to the Walt Disney Studios lot to screen Dinosaur, the company’s first foray into digital animation, and the precocious pre-teen (who had previously voiced Dot in Pixar’s A Bug’s Life) was there to promote her voiceover work. Despite the fact that she was already a seasoned veteran capable of giving remarkably mature answers to reporters’ questions, there seemed to be little about the bubbly blonde to suggest the headline-grabbing superstar she would one day become.

Ten years later, Panettiere is 20, has played the cheerleader around which the epic storyline of “Heroes” has orbited for four seasons now, and was ranked one of 2008’s sexiest stars by both FHM and Maxim magazines. As a result, she can’t sneeze without some pestering paparazzi snapping a picture of it, and her love life is a constant source of tabloid speculation. From her relationship with “Heroes” co-star Milo Ventimiglia to her high-profile campaign to end the dolphin slaughter in Japan, Panettiere continues to live almost every aspect of her life under the intense scrutiny of fame’s spotlight.

Sitting down for an interview with us in Santa Monica, California, the former child star talked about everything from the rollercoaster highs and lows of fame and the struggle to maintain a positive self-image to the future of her TV show.

You’ve been acting for most of your life. When you were growing up, were there any particular actors you looked up to or idolised?
I have a lot of people that I look up to as an actor, like Meryl Streep is obviously one of the best, if not the best actor of all time. I think she’s brilliant. But there are a million people who I respect. The people I wind up looking up to now are people who have their [stuff] together, who know who they are and are confident in who they are. They’re people who I look up to personality-wise and go, ‘I want to be like you because you’re so likable and you’re so smart and you’re so together and so with it.’ Everyone has their flaws, but it’s more the genuinely cool people that I look up to now and go, ‘Oh, wow!’

How surprised are you by this whole celebrity thing since “Heroes” took off?
I don’t think you can ever prepare yourself for it. I was really lucky, because I have a great family and a great upbringing. I was really fortunate to get to this point of “celebrity” — I hate that word, but being in the public eye — at the age I did. If I [had been] older and on my own and didn’t have to listen to my parents, I don’t know if it would’ve gone quite as smoothly. You get to the point where you’re on your own for a certain period of time and no one’s told you what to do for a while and you’re like, ‘You can’t tell me what to do, I’m an adult!’ But at 16 I still had parents who said, ‘No,’ and knew that I needed to listen. I also got to see how my castmates interacted with people and the way they dealt with it. It really was great to have people to look up to.

How many more seasons of “Heroes” do you think there will be?
We’re in the fourth season now, so I have no idea. We signed on for six years.

What’s coming up this season for Claire?
She’s at college now and she’s got a great roommate who is… I really don’t know about her in the beginning. There’s this new group of people called The Carnival, and they’re kind of the opposite of The Company.

How hard was it on the show when producer/writer Brian Fuller left again?
You know, I haven’t read all the scripts and haven’t been involved in the writing process like obviously the writers are. We all work hard and everyone’s really bright, and we all have a blast together. He’s growing up and doing some great stuff, so we’re all just really proud of him.

Why do you think “Heroes” has struggled so much with the fans in recent years?
I don’t know. I think it set a very high mark for itself in the beginning and it’s very scrutinised now because of the demand of the fans. It’s not an easy crowd to please all the time, but I still enjoy watching the show.

Are you tired of playing Claire yet? You’ve been with her for four years and the show has gone up and down in quality, so are you ready to let go of the character for good?
Letting go of the character? Well, I’ve been doing movies, television and theatre since I was a kid and there are great aspects and bad aspects of each. Movies are great because you get to play all these different characters; you never get tired of one thing and you get to travel and see that it’s a much bigger world. In TV, I’ve gotten to spend almost four years in a character and really gotten to know her and develop her myself and grew up with her. And then theatre is great because you have the same layout every show, but you get to perfect it every single time and try to make it fresh and new every night. So yeah, I’m excited to do other things, but I also do love what I do.

You’ve been acting most of your life. Is it still fun for you?
Absolutely! I would not put myself in this if it wasn’t. I didn’t mean this, as in doing interviews. I mean people asking me about the misspelled tattoo and the fact that I can’t even walk down the street to get a cup of coffee without having five to 10 cameras in my face. It really is a very invasive industry, and the line between your work and play is so blurred, if not nonexistent, that it’s tough. I’m not going to lie; it makes it hard to live. I’m not sitting there going, ‘Woe is me, my life is terrible!’ But people get this idea in their head that what we do isn’t hard, and it is. It’s work, and there are some times when I’m like, ‘I don’t want to go to work today.’

It’s interesting that the paparazzi cameras do seem to follow you everywhere, whether you’re protesting dolphin slaughter in Japan or hanging out on Elton John’s yacht. How did that come about?
I was just on vacation and friends were going, so I decided to come along. I was glad that I had the experience, because it just shows you how out of balance the world is. You go to these places during the film festivals and these people have wealth and all of that, and it’s just so imbalanced knowing what a lot of the world looks like. It’s crazy, but I would never want it for myself. Still, it’s great to have a friend with a boat, or a friend with a plane, or a friend with houses all over the world. You know what I mean?

You played another cheerleader in your last film, I Love You, Beth Cooper. Did you demand a bonus for having to put on that outfit again?
I wish! I think I’m just going to start putting in my contract that I refuse to wear a cheerleading outfit for the rest of my career! (Laughs.) In the film I only had to put it on once for a picture, but that was it. I don’t know why I always manage to find my way back to the cheerleading outfit….

Did you like that character? Was Beth a girl you could relate to?
Absolutely. Even though I haven’t gone through exactly what she was going through, it still stems from not believing in yourself. I think we all have our own insecurities, and I know I have plenty.

Like what?
Like body image insecurities. The older I get, the more comfortable I get with it. But I still have my days when I don’t feel great, or I don’t like this outfit or that outfit, and I’m having my fat day where I have to put something baggy on and wear sweatpants or just worry about the way that people perceive me. I have plenty of insecurities, so I can go on and on.

I find that hard to believe. You’re gorgeous! Do you work out a lot?
I’ve never been one of those people [who are] obsessed with working out or being super skinny, because I’m just not that. I have the body that I have and that’s not going to change, so I just try to stay as healthy as I can. It’s hard when someone is standing behind you with a camera on the beach, takes a picture of your rear end and points out all your bumps or whatever. You become much more critical of yourself because you’re in a position of such extreme judgment and scrutiny. People love to point out flaws, to build people up and then take them down again.

Was that actually you naked in the locker room scene of I Love You, Beth Cooper?
Yeah! It didn’t bother me. I think when the person who is doing it gets all uncomfortable and shy, then it makes other people around more uncomfortable. But I was fine and everyone was really professional. I mean, if I can’t flaunt it at 20, come on! I might as well show it now! (Laughs.) I’m kidding. That’s just on the set….

Have you ever experienced guys falling in love with you for the wrong reasons?
I think people at this point might only fall in love with me for the wrong reasons. Most of the time it’s a fan or someone who watches what I do, and how can you really say, ‘I love you’?

How do you know whether someone is being real with you or just likes you because of your celebrity?
I think after a while there are certain telltale signs and you become really good at reading people. But can you ever really be sure? People surprise you sometimes, and most of the time it’s generally for the worse. But I just surround myself with good people and I have really great friends that I trust, and I trust my instincts.

Do you have a certain type that you go for?
I’m a big personality person, so you need to be cool and confident with who you are. In order to be with someone like me, in the industry that I’m in, we have to go out and mingle at parties. That line is blurred between our jobs and our personal life, and it goes beyond just standing on set and acting. So it takes a secure person, and I like somebody who gets my sense of humour. I have a very dry sense of humour sometimes.

What’s next for you? What are your dreams and goals?
I’ve never been somebody who has said, ‘This is where I want my career to go and this is the kind of film I want to do.’ I just love everything about what I do, I love creating characters and I’m just excited to see what my career will be.


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