Jansen Panettiere, the younger brother of actress Hayden Panettiere who followed his sister into show business with appearances on Even Stevens, Blue’s Clues, Ice Age: The Meltdown and The Walking Dead, died Sunday in New York. He was 28.
A rep for the actor confirmed the news but did not provide cause of death or other details.
Born September 25, 1994, in Palisades, NY, Panettiere earned his first credits as a voice actor before landing a 2002 appearance on Disney Channel’s Even Stevens starring a young Shia LaBeouf. Subsequent credits include 2003 appearances on the sitcom Hope & Faith and the drama Third Watch, and the following year he voiced the recurring character Periwinkle on Blue’s Clues.
As a voice actor, his credits include 100 Things To Do Before Middle School, Robots, Ice Age: The Meltdown, and The X’s,among others.
Onscreen he had roles in Nickelodeon’s The Last Day of Summer (earning a Young Artist Award nomination), The Babysitters, Major Crimes and, in 2019, an episode of The Walking Dead. His most recent credit is the 2022 film Love and Love Not, and he has roles in a number of projects in production.
Panettiere appeared alongside his sister in the 2004 Disney Channel movie Tiger Cruise. In 2019, he co-starred in MTV’s How High 2. Hayden Panettiere is best known for her roles in TV’s Heroes and Nashville, as well as the Scream movie franchise.
Jansen Panettiere also was an artist, and shared his paintings on Instagram and on his website.