‘I adored South Africa’: Hayden Panettiere, who has died aged 36

American actress Hayden Panettiere, who rose to international fame in Heroes and Nashville, had fond memories of the time she spent in South Africa filming a movie as a teenager.

The actress died at the age of 36 at the weekend. Her father, Alan “Skip” Panettiere, confirmed her death to ABC News. No cause of death has been disclosed.

For South African audiences, Panettiere had a special connection to the country, dating back more than two decades, when she came to KwaZulu-Natal at the age of 14 to film the family comedy Racing Stripes.

Though the movie was set in Kentucky in the US, much of it was filmed in KwaZulu-Natal, with production taking place in the Midlands and racing scenes filmed at Scottsville Racecourse in Pietermaritzburg.

Panettiere played Channing Walsh, the daughter of a horse trainer who dreams of becoming a jockey and develops a special bond with an orphaned zebra named Stripes.

She spent five months in South Africa during the production, and later spoke warmly about how deeply attached she had become to the country.

“I really wanted to be a part of something and be a part of South Africa forever because it was my home and I adored it,” Panettiere told entertainment journalist Rebecca Murray in an interview about Racing Stripes, now published on LiveAbout.

Panettiere recalled arriving in Nottingham Road as a 14-year-old and initially being overwhelmed by its remote location and the prospect of spending five months away from home. But her feelings changed dramatically during her time in the country.

She travelled to Cape Town and Johannesburg and went on safari, and said she became so attached to the country that she did not want to leave when filming ended.

Panettiere’s time filming in South Africa was not without incident. During production she was thrown from a zebra and taken to hospital, later revealing that she suffered a concussion, whiplash and injuries to two vertebrae in her neck.

More than two decades later, she revisited the accident in her 2026 memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, saying she continued to experience pain stemming from the injuries.

Racing Stripes, released in 2005, starred Bruce Greenwood alongside Panettiere, while its animal characters featured the voices of a Hollywood line-up including Dustin Hoffman, Whoopi Goldberg, Snoop Dogg, Steve Harvey, David Spade and Frankie Muniz.

The production reportedly injected about R200m into the KwaZulu-Natal economy and provided an international showcase for the province.

Just a few years after filming in South Africa, Panettiere became an international television star as cheerleader Claire Bennet in the hit series Heroes, which premiered in 2006. Her character, who possessed the ability to regenerate after injury, became one of the show’s most recognisable figures.

Panettiere later starred as country singer Juliette Barnes in the musical drama Nashville, earning Golden Globe nominations for the role in 2013 and 2014.

Her other screen credits included Remember the Titans, Ice Princess, Scream 4 and Scream VI.

Away from the screen, Panettiere spoke candidly in later years about challenges in her personal life, including struggles with addiction and depression.

Her death comes three years after her younger brother, actor Jansen Panettiere, died in 2023 at the age of 28. His family said at the time that he died from complications related to an enlarged heart and an aortic-valve condition.

Panettiere leaves behind her daughter, Kaya, whom she shared with former heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko.

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