Hayden Panettiere stars as Claire on Heroes Credit: NBC

The "cheerleader" is doing quite fine, thank you. Beautiful 17-year-old actress Hayden Panettiere is co-starring in the popular "Heroes" series on NBC and she's starting a recording career as well with tracks like "Your New Girlfriend", "I Fly" and "My Hero is You" playing regularly especially on Radio Disney. The blonde, blue-eyed actress has come a long way since her days as a kid star and playing a Zebra jockey in the family film Stripes or a figure skater in Ice Princess. As "Heroes'" invincible Claire Bennett, a Texas cheerleader who can regenerate from injury, Hayden has joined the ranks of teen fave TV stars. Her film career continues with roles in The Architect and Shanghai Kiss. You might have watched her in the recent DVD hit Bring It On: All or Nothing.

We caught up with the actress at an NBC all-star party where she was glowing in a hot red dress on a cool night. Read on for news of the show, Hayden's singing career, clashes with the paparazzi and upcoming projects...

TeenTelevision: Does the physical aspect of your role come easy for you?

Hayden: I think so. I hope so. Both my parents played a lot of sports. I played a lot of sports, when I was younger. I think the whole racing zebras, figure skating, and all that stuff paid off, in that case.