Rise to Fame
She was doing Playskool commercials before she could walk and had soap opera credits before middle school. The actual career inflection was Heroes in 2006, where she played Claire Bennet, a cheerleader who couldn't be killed. The premiere drew 14.3 million viewers, the highest-rated NBC drama premiere in five years. She was 17. The show gave her a franchise and a fanbase before most people her age had a driver's license. Nashville extended the run, earning her two Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress, though she's since called the experience "traumatizing."
In the Spotlight
After Nashville wrapped in 2018, she basically disappeared for four years. What followed publicly was harder to watch: a domestic violence case against ex Brian Hickerson resulted in two felony convictions and a five-year restraining order. She signed over full custody of her daughter to Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko, a decision she described on Red Table Talk as "the most heartbreaking thing I've ever had to do." She came back in Scream VI (2023) and has been working steadily since, but a 2024 People magazine interview went viral when viewers flagged her appearance. She addressed it on Instagram, attributing it to 48 hours without sleep. Recovery, she's said, is "an everyday choice."
Side Notes
In 2007, she physically paddled into the waters off Taiji, Japan, to disrupt the annual dolphin hunt alongside Sea Shepherd activists. The group was expelled from Japan. The footage ended up in The Cove, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. That's an unusual resume line for a 17-year-old cheerleader from a network drama. At nine, she became among the youngest Grammy nominees ever for her voice work in A Bug's Life. After her daughter's birth in 2014, she entered treatment for postpartum depression and became a vocal advocate, saying there are too many people who still don't think it's real.