Hayden Panettiere

Playing pom-pom princess Claire Bennet on NBC’s Heroes, actress Hayden Panettiere must stay in fighting form to save the world. That’s why Hollywood’s newest “it” girl can often be found pumping iron at the celeb-friendly gym Crunch, with its brightly colored walls and hall of showers with translucent doors.

After working up a sweat, Panettiere takes a breather at a coffee shop. “Crazy” is the word she uses to describe tonight’s episode (9 ET/PT), which flashes five years into a possible future with the heroes having failed in their season-long mission to save New York from devastation.

As the season reaches its climax May 21, Panettiere teases, “Claire has to make a very hard decision. She is put in a position of serious power — to stop (destruction) in a pretty heartbreaking way. Or not.”

Less than six years ago, Panettiere lived through a nightmare scenario similar to tonight’s “what if” episode. Up until this year, her family lived in New York, and her father, Skip, retired as a fire department lieutenant just six months before the 9/11 attacks.

The family mourned many lost friends.

Panettiere was left with an enriched appreciation for life. “I want to go crazy,” the 17-year-old says of her own future.

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Watch Hayden Panettiere on CNN’s Larry King Live on Friday, April 27, 2007 at 9
p.m. ET.

Hayden got Punk’d in the latest episode, and I think she handled it pretty well — she’s so sweet, and it’s funny. Check it out below:

Hayden Panettiere rocketed to fame as the self-healing cheerleader Claire Bennet on Heroes – but the 17-year-old is just getting started.

Since becoming the focal point of the show’s “save the cheerleader, save the world” plot line, Panettiere has also started filming the drama Fireflies in the Garden with Julia Roberts and is gearing up to promote her debut pop album this fall.

“With singing I get to be myself,” she tells People magazine in its new issue.

Later this spring, Panettiere will celebrate another milestone – high school graduation. “Thank God!” says the Nyack, N.Y., native. “School was difficult; when you come and go, you miss out on a lot. Cliques are formed and you’re just lingering.”

In L.A. Panettiere has found a BFF in Bruce Willis and Demi Moore’s daughter Rumer, 18 (”I stole my pink belly-button ring from Rumer,” she admits), and a boyfriend in Laguna Beach’s Stephen Colletti, 21, whom she’s been dating for more than a year.

But Panettiere and Colletti are so low-key (their nights out usually consist of dinner and a movie) that the actress feels guilty about not giving gossipmongers more to work with.

“I had paparazzi on my street for a while,” she says. “I think I bored them to tears. I’m no fun to watch.”

Source: People Magazine

Hayden Panettiere is ditching her cheerleader outfit and her superpowers in favor of catching some “Fireflies.”

The “Heroes” star has signed on to join the cast of the film “Fireflies in the Garden,” alongside Julia Roberts, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The film, directed by Dennis Lee, also stars Willem Dafoe, Ioan Gruffudd, Carrie-Anne Moss, Ryan Reynolds and Emily Watson.

Loosely based on Lee’s life, “Fireflies” explores the complexities of love and commitment in a family torn apart when faced with an unexpected tragedy.

Shooting is slated to begin Tuesday in Austin.

Nope! Hayden Panettiere (dressed in metallic gold) wisely called her agent ahead of time to make sure she wouldn’t get slimed so as not to soil her pricey Stuart Weitzman shoes.