"I don't know. I'm just a cheerleader."

First Appearance: #1.1 "Genesis"

Location: Odessa, TX

Profession: High School Student, Cheerleader

Known Relatives/Associates: Mr. Bennet (Adoptive father), Sandra Bennet (Adoptive mother), Lyle Bennet (Brother), Zach (Friend, confidant)

Powers: Healing Factor, aka "Spontaneous Regeneration"

Character Biography: Claire Bennet used to be like any other 17 year-old girl. She would worry about homework, or making the cheerleading squad – but soon after putting on her new uniform, Claire discovered that she was anything but "normal."

In April, 2006, Claire would get her first clue that she was “different.” A small fight with friend/rival Jackie Wilcox would leave her rushing to the ER with some very deep cuts – which miraculously healed just days later. At the time, she probably thought nothing of it; however, her adoptive father, Mr. Bennet, knew differently.

Claire eventually became aware of her power. Terrified of what everyone would think, she sought comfort in her classmate Zach, whom she had never really talked to before. Zach filmed Claire testing her power by attempting injury in various ways, such as falling 80 feet, or impaling herself – without as much as a scratch left on her. The last footage Zach films is not suicidal, but heroic. On the way home, Claire and Zach encounter a massive train wreck. Claire takes this opportunity to capture more footage, but ends up rescuing a man she discovered in the wreckage.

The next day at school, a fireman comes to the high school to identify the cheerleader who had rescued the man. They were interested in honoring the girl for her heroics, but Claire was a very reluctant heroine – since she was also terrified of being seen as a freak. Luckily, her egomaniac friend Jackie would steal the spotlight before Claire could explain her whereabouts that day. Jackie takes credit for rescuing the man, much to Claire’s contempt. Only hours later, Claire would be informed the tapes she made with Zach were missing. This was terrifying and stressful for Claire, frightened at the possibility that somebody could find out.

After having expressed interest in finding her birth parents, Claire finds out that her dad has arranged to meet them. It is also revealed that Mr. Bennet is the one who has stolen the videotapes. At the time, his actions seem to conflict with his love for Claire, although he does demonstrate many times that his love is genuine.

At a bonfire, Claire’s romance with the charming Brody Mitchum takes an unfortunate turn when he attempts to rape Claire. Claire is accidentally killed during the struggle, and not even her powers could stop it. Luckily for her, she later revives on the autopsy table after the object is removed from her skull. She escapes from the morgue, albeit at the expense of a very frightened coroner. Claire presents herself to an obviously shaken Brody the next day, who until that point believed she was dead. After disclosing these events to her one and only confidant, Zach, she decides to seek revenge for what Brody had done to her and all the other girls. She later pretends she needs a ride home and asks Brody to teach her how to drive his car. She confronts Brody, who denies he did anything wrong and calls her a slut. Claire then crashes head-on into a wall out of spite. At the hospital, an unharmed Claire reveals to her father that she was a victim of rape and that she crashed the car on purpose. An immensely angry Mr. Bennet would later confront Brody and have The Haitian wipe his entire memory.

After much nagging, Claire is finally able to meet her biological parents. The meeting is awkward and very underwhelming, as Claire was trying hard to find some clue as to why she was different. Mr. Bennet escorts them out, revealing that they are actually not Claire’s parents and that it was all a ploy.

Claire receives a visit from Zach, who had finally found the tape under his bed. Claire is very relieved, although she is not aware that her dad had intercepted the tape and planted it back into Zach’s room. She foolishly leaves the tape in plain view and leaves with Zach. Her ever-obnoxious brother Lyle ends up viewing the tape, much to Claire’s dismay. Claire and Zach begin chasing Lyle around, but he won’t calm down. They eventually convince Lyle to give back the tape and that he has to be quiet, because it could put Claire in a lot of danger.

Ironically, Claire was already in a lot of danger. All around the country, several people were working hard to locate Claire and save her from a likely death. It begins when Peter Petrelli receives a message from a future-Hiro Nakamura saying that he must save “the cheerleader,” and that he needs to seek out Isaac Mendez for more answers. Isaac’s paintings feature Claire and what will happen to her in the future. Peter mimics Isaac’s power to finish a painting when Isaac receives a phone call from the present-Hiro. Peter tells Hiro about future-Hiro’s visit. Peter also discloses all of this to a very skeptical Mohinder Suresh, who believes Peter is crazy. Mohinder then tells his neighbor Eden, who secretly works for Claire’s father. Once Mr. Bennet finds out his daughter’s life is in danger, he instructs Eden to bring Isaac to Texas. From Isaac’s paintings we learn that Claire is going to be killed by the serial killer named Sylar on the night of Homecoming. *deep breath*

On the day of Homecoming, an unsuspecting Claire is busy disliking Jackie and downplaying the entirety of Homecoming, but an eager Zach persuades her to check the bulletin for who won Homecoming Queen. Elated, but confused as to how she won, Zach reveals to her that he has campaigned for her to win the “unpopular” vote. An outwardly hostile Jackie tries to ruin the mood by poking fun at Zach’s sexuality, and Claire, in turn, punches Jackie in the face. This is most likely the defining moment that Claire truly realizes the importance of Zach’s friendship.

Meanwhile, Peter Petrelli finally tracked down the painting that would reveal Claire’s whereabouts. However, the painting also shows that he will die if he tries to save her. Back in Texas, Claire’s dad is desperate in finding out more information, but Isaac’s paintings reveal nothing. As a last ditch effort, he grounds Claire to prevent her from leaving – hopefully delaying Sylar from finding her. However, that night, Zach sneaks into Claire’s bedroom to break her out. At the high school, she runs into Peter, who – from the trophy case – believes that Jackie Wilcox is the girl he needs to save.

Sylar also believes this, and attacks Jackie in the locker room. He throws Claire out of the way and cuts Jackie’s skull open. Once he realizes that he’s killed the wrong cheerleader, Claire flees, running into Peter again. The chase continues to the amphitheatre, exactly as in Isaac’s paintings. There, a brave Peter confronts Sylar and they tackle each other off the ledge. Peter is killed by the fall, and Sylar limps away to be captured by Eden and The Haitian. A grief-stricken Claire finds Peter dead, when much to her surprise Peter revives and puts his body back together, like Claire had done so many times before.

Claire finds her distraught father and confesses everything – the videotape, Lyle, Zach and her power. A very bewildered Claire also finds out that Mr. Bennet had also been lying the entire time; that he had always known about Claire’s gift and that he was the one who had stolen Zach’s tapes. He tells her that Sylar has been taken care of, but that there are still other people out there that would want to harm her.

Claire’s father requests that the videotapes be destroyed, but what he doesn’t tell her is that only hours later he will have The Haitian erase both Zach’s and Lyle’s memories of Claire’s power. Claire is unaware of her dad’s involvement and believes that the “other people” her dad warned her about are after her. The Haitian then ambushes her in her bedroom and explains that he was sent by her father to make her forget, and that he had erased everyone else’s memories, too. However, he tells Claire that it is very important that she remember everything and asks her to keep it a secret.

Claire retains her memories, though she must act as though she doesn't in order to make her father think she was wiped. She now has an ally in The Haitian. The Haitian is unable to restore Zach's memories, so Claire is doing what she can to rebuild his memory of their friendship - even if it means revealing herself to him all over again.

Featured Episodes: #1.1 "Genesis"; #1.2 "Don't Look Back"; #1.3 "One Giant Leap"; #1.4 "Collision"; #1.5 "Hiros"; #1.6 "Better Halves"; #1.7 "Nothing To Hide"; #1.8 "Seven Minutes To Midnight"; #1.9 "Homecoming"; #1.10 "Six Months Ago"; #1.11 "Fallout"; #1.12 "Godsend"

Actor Biography: Hayden Leslie Panettiere was born August 21, 1989 in New York. She began her acting career only 11 months later doing commercials. By the age of four she was cast in daytime soap One Life to Live. She continued to act in soap operas, playing Lizzie Spaulding on Guiding Light from 1996-2000. She has also had starring and recurring roles in Ally McBeal and Malcolm in the Middle, respectively.

Hayden has appeared in many films; most recent being independent film The Architect which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. She performed her own stunts as a competitive skater in Ice Princess and starred in the direct-to-video sequel Bring it On: All or Nothing. She has also starred opposite Tim Allen in Joe Somebody, and Denzel Washington in Remember the Titans. She has several other film credits including Raising Helen and Message in a Bottle.

Hayden is also a singer. She will be releasing her first album through Hollywood Records in Spring of 2007.

Video game fans will recognize her voice as the female protagonist Kairi from the hit Kingdom Hearts series for the Playstation 2. She also lent her voice to the character Princess Dot in the Pixar animated film A Bug’s Life.

Hayden is also actively involved. She is an IUCN Red List Ambassador for the IUCN Wildlife Foundation, an organization that is raising awareness of species loss and the degrading integrity of our ecosystem. She has also recently began supporting The Whaleman Foundation, alongside Pierce Brosnan.

Hayden resides in New York with her parents when she’s not filming Heroes

Profile Contributors: Jonathan Woollard, Melanie Maclin, Craig Byrne

Return home

Heroes and its characters and related images are copyright ©2007 NBC Universal Television. This is a fan site and not authorized by NBC. Page copyright ©2007 KryptonSite, unless the material is noted as coming from someplace else or being by an individual author.

Heroes stars Hayden Panettiere, Jack Coleman, Santiago Cabrera, Masi Oka, Greg Grunberg, Adrian Pasdar, Milo Ventimiglia, Ali Larter, Noah Grey-Cabey, David Anders, Kristen Bell, Dana Davis, Dania Ramirez, Zachary Quinto, James Kyson Lee, and Sendhil Ramamurthy.

PLEASE DO NOT TAKE GRAPHICS, NEWS, SPOILERS, ETC. FROM HEROSITE WITHOUT FIRST ASKING PERMISSION AND PLACING A LINK TO HEROSITE.NET. OR, JUST SEND PEOPLE OVER TO THIS SITE! THANKS!