Birth Name: Danielle Nicole Panabaker
Date of Birth: 19 September 1987
Place of Birth: Georgia, USA
Age: 21 years old
Height: 5' 7" (1.70 m)
Nicknames: Grace
Siblings: Kay Panabaker

» Early Life

Danielle Nicole Panabaker was born September 19, 1987 in Augusta, Georgia, to Donna and Harold Panabaker. Her younger sister Kay Panabaker is also an actress. Panabaker took a theater class at a summer camp and discovered her enjoyment in acting, so she started acting in community theaters at the age of 12, later auditioning for commercials. After moving to Naperville, Illinois, Panabaker went to Crone Middle School and later Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville and participated in the speech team. Later, feeling it was the only way to land acting roles regularly, Panabaker relocated to Los Angeles, California in order to pursue an acting career. In 2005, she earned her associate's degree and appeared on the National Dean's List. In the fall of 2006 she began her senior year at the University of California, Los Angeles, from which she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in June 2007.

» Early Career

Panabaker followed her initial appearances in commercials with various guest roles in television, including "Family Affair", "The Bernie Mac Show", "CSI", "Malcolm in the Middle" and "The Division". Danielle co-starred in the telefilm "Sex & the Single Mom" opposite Gail O'Grady. In 2004 she took home the Young Artist Award for Best Performance by a Guest Starring Young Actress in a Television Series, for her portrayal of a blind victim on "The Guardian." Danielle also starred in the Disney Channel Original Film "Stuck in the Suburbs" and became a repeat winner being the recipient of the 2005 Young Artist Award for Best Performance by a Leading Young Actress in a TV movie, miniseries or special for her role in ABC Family's "Searching for David's Heart". Another television project was the HBO miniseries "Empire Falls" opposite Paul Newman, Ed Harris and Helen Hunt. USA Today called her an "angelic adolescent" who gives "a terrific performance" in the film, which was based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name, and won the Golden Globe for best mini-series in 2005. In addition, Panabaker also appeared in stage productions with roles in musical theater, including West Side Story, Pippin, Once Upon A Time, and Beauty Lou and the Country Beast. She also starred as Jacey Jeffries in the 2005 Lifetime Original Movie "Mom at Sixteen," and had a recurring role on "Summerland" opposite her real-life sister, Kay.

After two years of television, Danielle decided to try some luck with big screen productions, and it didn't take long before she got her first (very good) roles. In 2005, Panabaker co-starred in two widely released theatrical films, Disney's feature film "Sky High," where she played Layla, the socially conscious best friend of main character Will Stronghold, and "Yours, Mine & Ours" as the oldest daughter in a blended family with 18 kids. Damielle originally tried to get the part of Christina but was changed back and forth and eventually got the part of Phoebe. She also worked on a short film called "Rule Number One," The concept and the title of the film was originally developed on the set of the HBO film Empire Falls, on which David Presley worked as a member of the crew.  After a group of high-school boys were ogling Danielle Panabaker, Presely overheard the young actress’s mother say to her, “Remember—rule number one: boys only want one thing.”  Eventually, the incident became a running joke on the set, and it led Presley to write a script centered around this piece of maternal wisdom. Danielle also starred in the feature film "Home of the Giants," an independent production which stars Haley Joel Osment and Ryan Merriman. The film had some private screenings and was premiered in various film festivals with excellent critics during 2007 and 2008, but it has not reached theatres in North America yet, the movie is availabe on DVD in Australia and Europe.

» Sharrrrk

In 2006 Panabaker was added to the cast of the CBS television legal drama pilot "Shark", as "Julie Stark", the main character's daughter. Created by Ian Biederman, the series starred James Woods as Sebastian Stark, a notorious Los Angeles defense attorney who becomes a prosecutor. Julie is the daughter of Sebastian, she decided to stay with her father after her custody hearing, because "he needs her more than he'll ever know". After shooting the pilot, Danielle starred in the Disney Channel original movie "Read It and Weep," she played "Is", an alternate version of Jamie, who was played by her sister Kay. Then "Shark" premiered on September 21, 2006. It started well and was ranked #24 according to its USA ratings, it was later picked for a second season. But Danielle managed to balance TV with films, she won a supporting role in "Mr. Brooks" (A psychological thriller about a man who is sometimes controlled by his murder-and-mayhem-loving alter ego) opposite Kevin Costner. The second season of "Shark" premiered on September 24, 2007. 12 episodes were aired, but after the writers' strike, the show only came back with four final episodes. "Shark" was officially cancelled on May 22, 2008. Danielle appeared in a total of 35 out of 38 episodes, but she was credited as a lead in all of them.

» Recent & Future Work

In early 2008 Danielle was casted as Jenna, a main character of the much anticipated "Friday the 13th" reboot along with Jared Padalecki. The movie was filmed during the spring of 2008 in Austin, Texas. Danielle also worked on another film called "Renaissance Girl," but ever since the cast was revealed nothing new has been said about it. As her most recent television work, Panabaker made a guest appearance in "Eli Stone" playing a young woman who Eli believes will save humanity in the future. On february 13, 2009 "Friday the 13th," which was butchered by critics, was released earning an estimated $45.21 million -- the biggest gross for a slasher-flick premiere in history. The movie scored a $19.4-million haul on its first day -- more than what it reportedly cost to make. Danielle was later casted as Becca, the second female lead in the upcoming "The Crazies" remake, a movie about the inhabitants of a small Iowa town suddenly plagued by insanity and then death after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply, the movie was filmed during the spring of 2009 in Georgia, USA. It's set to premiere on February 29, 2010. For a 2009 release, Danielle will also star in an upcoming independent drama "Weakness," about a suburban high school teacher who loses his wife and his moorings during a summer break. Her most recent project is "The Ward", a promissing complex, visceral thriller, full of suspense and scares about an institutionalized young woman who becomes terrorized by a ghost. The film will be directed by the legendary John Carpenter (Halloween). Danielle will be a patient in the institution, a snobbish girl who flirts with orderlies and faces electroshock therapy.

An award-winning actress herself, Danielle Panabaker has worked with more than a dozen Oscar® and Emmy winners in just six years of professional work. This beautiful and very talented rising actress has walked a long way since her early days, and there's still a lot of brightness to be revealed in coming years.