- See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source
Actress Hayden Panettiere has tragically died at the age of 36.
Panettiere, known for her roles on the hit NBC series Heroes and musical drama Nashville, was remembered as 'an incredible light and a force of nature.' She leaves behind an 11-year-old daughter.
Representatives for the former child star announced on Sunday: 'It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden.
'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.'
Her cause of death was not immediately clear.
The Hollywood star earned multiple award nominations across her career, most notably while playing cheerleader Claire Bennet on Heroes and Juliette Barnes on Nashville.
She also appeared in the Scream franchise as Kirby Reed, and lent her voice to the video game Until Dawn.
The tragic news comes just months after her memoir, This is Me, became a New York Times bestseller.
Hayden Panettiere has tragically died at the age of 36. She is pictured here at a gala in Hollywood in 2022
Panettiere is remembered for her roles as Claire Bennet on the hit NBC series Heroes
The tragic news comes just months after her memoir, This is Me, became a New York Times bestseller
In the book, Panettiere described how she contended with fame and handled the difficulties in her life.
She had relinquished custody of her daughter to her ex, Wladimir Klitschko, while struggling with postpartum depression in 2018.
Sources familiar with the matter told TMZ she had passed away earlier on Sunday, one day after her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, flew from Los Angeles to see her.
Panettiere first started acting at just 11 months old when she appeared on screen in a commercial.
Her full-time acting career then began in 1994 when she played Sarah Roberts in the ABC soap opera One Life to Live until 1997. She then played Lizzie Spaulding in the CBS soap opera Guiding Light from 1996 to 2000.
For her role on Pixar's A Bug's Life, she was nominated for a Young Artist Award and Grammy Award, making her the fifth-youngest nominee for a Grammy.
Her other credits include Remember the Titans, Ally McBeal, Racing Stripes, Ice Princess and I Love You, Beth Cooper.
Panettiere also recorded a number of songs for the films and television programs she was in, including My Hero is You for the Disney Channel film Tiger Cruise and I Fly for the Disney film Ice Princess, which she co-starred in with the late Michelle Trachtenberg.
Panettiere started out as a child star, with her first acting gig at just 11 months old
She played Juliette Barnes on the ABC show Nashville, releasing a number of her own songs
This is a breaking news story.