Recently, life has been good for the actress and aspiring musician Hayden Panettiere. Her NBC show HEROES is one of the biggest hit dramatic series of the year. In addition to that, the wholesome blond Panettiere is also rumored to be using her recent media exposure to write and record a full-length album. The actress says that she's always had musical aspirations, and fans eagerly await the record and tour. On HEROES, Hayden Panettiere plays the character Claire Bennet. As the series developed, it becomes apparent that Bennet, a small-town cheerleader, is also gifted with the amazing power of cellular regeneration. And yes, if you're not the biggest HEROES fan but still found yourself watching NBC, Hayden Panettiere is the cheerleader in question from those creepy, nearly subliminal "Save the cheerleader, save the world" show promos. No, you weren't going crazy. Hayden has been on the hit show since its first episode, "Genesis", in which Claire Bennet is seen innocently discovering and exploring the limits of her powers. It's not until later episodes that the innocent cheerleader becomes essential to the show's plot arch and, indeed, the fate of the entire world. The ensuring HEROES action, and Hayden Panettiere's roll in it, is better chronicled elsewhere, especially if we're trying to avoid spoilers. But, as fans charmed by her Claire Bennet character have come to learn, this is hardly Panettiere's big acting debut. The sexy actress was born in Palisades, New York, and she inherited both her good looks and the acting bug from her soap opera star mother. Mom understood her ambitious daughter and allowed her to finish high school in home school so that young Hayden could dedicate herself to her acting. Hayden Panettiere even got some child acting experience on the soaps One Life to Live and Guiding Light, where her character Lizzie suffered from Leukemia. Hayden Panettiere has also used her newfound celebrity to support activist causes and was most notably involved in a protest against Japanese dolphin hunting.