Walking Dead actor Jansen Panettiere, brother of Hayden, dies aged 28
Jansen appeared in two films alongside his sister Hayden Panettiere, and had a number of animated voice roles.
Jansen Panettiere has died at the age of 28.
The actor, who had a number of animated voice roles as well as co-starring in two films with his sister Hayden Panettiere, died in New York City on Sunday (19th February), according to Deadline.
A cause of death is unknown at the time of writing.
Jansen began his career with a background role in an episode of Even Stevens on the Disney Channel alongside Shia LaBeouf and Nick Spano.
He went on to do voiceover performances in animated films and TV shows including Ice Age: The Meltdown, Blue’s Clues, Robots, The X’s, and many more.
On screen, the star bagged roles in Nickelodeon’s The Last Day of Summer, Major Crimes and The Babysitters.
Most recently, the actor starred in the 2019 film How High 2 as well as in a season 9 episode of The Walking Dead, in which he appeared as Casper, a member of the Hilltop community who was ambushed by Alpha and the Whisperers.
Hayden is best known for her roles in Nashville, Heroes and the Scream movie franchise.
The siblings appeared alongside each other in the 2004 Disney Channel movie Tiger Cruise and in 2012's The Forger.
In more recent years, Jansen had made a move away from acting and pursued a passion for painting, sharing photos of his work on Instagram.
Tributes have been flooding in on social media following the tragic news of Jansen's passing, with fans sharing their condolences for the actor.
One user said: "I’ve just deeply heard Jansen Panettiere the voices of Truman X and Periwinkle from my both favorite @Nickelodeon shows from my childhood like The X’s and Blue’s Clues has died and passed away at the age of 28. RIP Jansen Panettiere."
Another added: "RIP Jansen Panettiere. I’m very shocked and saddened right now. I remember he was in a lot of Nick shows too, including The X’s as the son and Blue’s Clues as Periwinkle during the Joe era! That just hurts... :(. Much love to Hayden and their family during this difficult time."
Authors
Molly Moss is a Trends Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest trends across TV, film and more. She has an MA in Newspaper Journalism and has previously written for publications including The Guardian, The Times and The Sun Online.
