The brother of actress Hayden Panettiere has passed away at the age of 28. Hayden Panettiere — known for roles in Heroes, Nashville, and Scream — was close with her brother Jansen and the two even worked together in the past.
TMZ is reporting that the young man passed away in New York over the weekend, and that while the cause of his death is not known, there’s no foul play suspected. The younger Panettiere has been acting since the 2000s and has appeared in shows like Even Stevens, Blue’s Clues, and Robots.
The siblings actually worked together in 2004 on Tiger Cruise and in 2005 on Racing Stripes. In 2008, Jansen was nominated for a Young Artist Award for his appearance in The Last Day of Summer. As he got older, he started working in more mature fare like The Walking Dead and Major Crimes.
Jansen had a magnetic personality and — in addition to being an actor — he was an avid artist. Here’s a video of him showing off a painting he did and talking about what it means to be an artist.
“Most art that you do doesn’t really have a meaning. It tends to be driven by looking good. And then later on you start to taper into something that will have a meaning.”
Jansen sold his artwork on his website, which is currently still active. On his bio page he’s described as a New York-based artist who “started painting his problems.” Jansen’s struggles are also documented.
“After spending time in LA as an adult he was ridden with terrible anxiety and depression; this period in his life eventually produced a spiritual clarity that drove him to start painting his problems, one by one. “
He was also an environmentalist and he supported his sister and her work for the Whaleman foundation. Here he is talking about that.
“The Whaleman Foundation is an oceanic research, conservation, and production organization dedicated to preserving and protecting dolphins, whales, and their ocean habitat. Our mission is to end all commercial and lethal scientific research whaling worldwide, while raising public awareness to all the other threats dolphins and whales face including toxic pollution, noise pollution, global warming, loss of habitat, entanglement in fishing nets, collisions with ships, and increasing whaling.”
The police department that discovered the young star’s body released a statement to The Sun.
“We responded to a call on February 19, 2023 at 5:03pm. Our detectives are currently continuing an investigation from that response, and we cannot provide further information at this time.”
