Hayden Panettiere ‘Stuck Up for Background Actors When They Were Mistreated,’ Says ‘Heroes’ Co-Star

Tributes from Hayden Panettiere’s co-stars across television and film have been pouring in following her death at 36 on Sunday.

Actor Sendhil Ramamurthy, who played Mohinder Suresh on the NBC sci-fi series Heroes , remembered the actress in a heartfelt post on Tuesday. Panettiere featured as the virtually invincible high school cheerleader Claire Bennet on the series across four seasons.

“This is such a rough one,” Ramamurthy began. “The 1st time I met Hayden was at the final screen test for Heroes. I was so nervous I was sweating through my shirt b4 I even got there. I went straight to the bathroom to compose myself and then went to sign in, expecting to find a bunch of fellow nervous-as-hell actors.” Instead Ramamurthy found Hayden, who was “belting show tunes in the waiting room” and didn’t have a sinngle “nerve in sight.”