Hayden Panettiere (August 21, 1989), has worn many hats for someone her age.
A girl dying of leukemia, a super-powered cheerleader, an animal-rights
activist, a fresh-faced spokesperson, a Scream victim, a tiny ant
princess, an Ice Princess, a Princess of Heart, and of course one of those
innumerable Disney-bred actress/singer things. Pretty impressive for someone
born after the Reagan Administration.
Panettiere was born in the Palisades, and
attended public school through eighth grade, subsequently studying at home
as her acting career began to gain speed. She started “acting” at merely
eleven months old, in an ad for Playskool.
Some years later, Hayden
originated a prominent role on one of the world’s longest-running media
properties – she starred as Lizzie Spaulding on venerated soap opera
Guiding Light. The role garnered her a Special Recognition Award from
the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society when her character battled leukemia.
Panettiere worked steadily
through the late nineties and early Aughts, starring in movies, television,
and voice acting, but her big break came in early 2007, when NBC’s
much-hyped superhero television series, Heroes, premiered.
Panettiere starred as a
high school cheerleader mysteriously imbued with regenerative healing
powers, which she discovers through a series of home videos she makes in
which she repeatedly attempts to harm herself. It is soon revealed that she
is at the center of an apocalyptic prophecy in which the series’ other
heroes are mandated to, “Save the cheerleader, save the world.”
The series was a huge hit
and went on for four seasons, gradually losing steam as each season
essentially repeated the last. Fresh-faced Panettiere was the series’ big
breakout star, and has since gone on to co-star in Scream 4 (2011)
and other films. She has also leveraged her fame as a platform for endorsing
Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and for speaking out against the
practice of dolphin hunting in Japan.
However, we will always
know Panettiere as the reluctant teenaged savior of the world, and in that
regard we honor her today with the Greatest American Hero – the Hero
Sandwich. A Hero Sandwich is a New York term for a submarine sandwich which
Philadelphians call a hoagie and New Englanders often call a grinder. We
suggest that while eating one that you watch I Love You, Beth Cooper
(2009) in which she play the hottest girl in high school school who decides
to date and thereby save the school nerd who declares his love for her
during his graduation speech.
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