Hayden Panettiere, the actor recognised for her television, film and video-game work, has died aged 36. Her credits included Until Dawn and the first two games in the Kingdom Hearts series.
Her father, Skip Panettiere, confirmed her death in a statement to ABC News. No details about the circumstances of her death have been made public.
“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” the statement said. “She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her — and to the millions who watched her onscreen.”
Panettiere’s film and television career
Panettiere began working as a child actor and appeared in Disney productions including A Bug’s Life and Dinosaur. She later became widely known for television roles in Heroes and Nashville.
She also played Kirby Reed in the Scream franchise, appearing in three films across more than a decade after the character’s introduction in 2011.
Her legacy in video games
For game audiences, Panettiere was the original English voice of Kairi in the first two Kingdom Hearts titles. Alyson Stoner later took over the role after Panettiere’s involvement with the series ended.
Panettiere also had a leading role in the horror game Until Dawn, supplying both the voice and motion capture for Sam.
Her work sits at the intersection of screen acting and interactive entertainment, a subject explored through RETROCADE’s arcade news and features and arcade video coverage.
In the months before her death, Panettiere had been promoting her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning. Readers interested in the hardware behind classic gaming can also browse RETROCADE’s arcade machine collection.
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