Hayden Panettiere
BRET LOVE TALKS TO THE HEROES’ HEROINE ABOUT THE PRICE OF FAME
BEST KNOWN FOR playing the cheerleader on Heroes, Hayden Panettiere has been a working actress since the infant age of 11 months, appearing in TV ads, soap operas and Disney/Pixar films. Today, she’s 20 and she can’t sneeze without the paparazzi snapping a picture. Here, she describes the highs and lows of fame.
Which actors do you idolize?
As an actor, I look up to Meryl Streep, obviously one of the best, if not the best actor of all time. I think she’s brilliant. But there are a million people 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. I want to say, “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 the genuinely cool people that make me say, “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 — at the age I did. If I was 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. 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 how they dealt with it.
Are you tired of playing Claire yet?
I’ve been doing movies, TV and theater since I was a kid, and there are great and bad aspects to each. Movies are great because you get to play different characters and you get to travel. In TV, I’ve spent almost four years in a character and have really gotten to know her and develop her. Theater is great because 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 now.
Is acting still fun?
Absolutely! I would not put myself in this if it weren’t. I don’t mean doing interviews. I mean people asking me about my 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’s 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 here 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.”
You’re gorgeous! Do you exercise a lot?
I’ve never been one of those people obsessed with being super skinny, but that’s not me. I have the body that I have and that’s not going to change, so I just try to stay healthy. You become much more critical of yourself because you’re in a position of extreme judgment and scrutiny.
What’s coming up in this season of Heroes for Claire?
She’s in 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 the opposite of The Company.
What’s next for you?
We signed on for six years, so I have no idea. 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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