Danielle Panabaker

Panabaker was born in Augusta, Georgia, to Donna (née Mayock) and Harold Panabaker. Her younger sister, Kay Panabaker, was also an actress and is currently working as a zoologist. As her father's sales job took them across the country, the family spent time in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and, for a short time around Panabaker's kindergarten year, in Orange, Texas. She took a theater class at a summer camp, discovered her love of acting, and started acting in community theaters at the age of 12, later auditioning for commercials. After moving to Naperville, Illinois, in 2000, Panabaker went to Crone Middle School and then Neuqua Valley High School, participating in the speech team. She graduated from high school when she was 14 years old. Panabaker also took ballet and pointe classes up until she was fifteen. In 2003, feeling it was the only way to land acting roles regularly, Panabaker, her sister, and their mother relocated to Los Angeles, California, so she could pursue an acting career. She attended Glendale Community College, studying acting. In 2005, she earned her associate degree and appeared on the national Dean's List. In 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, again appearing on the Dean's List.Panabaker followed her initial appearances in commercials with roles in television, including a part in The Guardian (for which she won a Young Artist Award), as well as other television series including Malcolm in the Middle, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Medium, and Summerland, and the Disney Channel Original Movie Stuck in the Suburbs. She also appeared in the Lifetime Television productions Sex and the Single Mom and Mom at Sixteen, as well as the well-reviewed miniseries Empire Falls. She considers Empire Falls to be her big break, as it gave her the confidence to pursue her career. In addition, Panabaker 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. In 2004, she starred in the ABC film "Searching for David's Heart". In 2005, Panabaker co-starred in two widely released theatrical films, Sky High and Yours, Mine & Ours. Her next role was in the film Home of the Giants (2008). She also had a supporting role in the film Mr. Brooks. In the Disney Channel original movie Read It and Weep, she plays Is, an alternate version of Jamie, who was played by her real-life sister, Kay Panabaker. From 2006 to 2008, Panabaker starred in the CBS television drama Shark, playing Julie Stark, the daughter of the lead character. In 2009, Panabaker played Jenna, a main character in the Friday the 13th remake. Panabaker next starred in the films The Crazies and The Ward. In 2011, Panabaker starred as Katie Lapp, the lead character in the Hallmark Channel movie The Shunning, based on the novel by Beverly Lewis. She was to reprise her role in the 2013 sequel The Confession, but a scheduling conflict forced her to drop out, and the role was recast. In 2013, she starred in another Hallmark Channel movie, Nearlyweds. On May 5, 2013, Panabaker joined actors including Philip Baker Hall, Bill Pullman, and Maggie Siff in performing at Cedering Fox's WordTheatre, where they read aloud contemporary short fiction. In 2014, Panabaker starred in Bradley D. King's award-winning science-fiction film Time Lapse, for which she won the award for Best Actor/Actress at the 2014 London Independent Film Festival. In April 2014, Panabaker guest-starred as Caitlin Snow in a second-season episode of the CW series Arrow; she was later included, playing Snow, in the main cast of the spin-off series The Flash. Panabaker made her directorial debut with the eighteenth episode of the series' fifth season, entitled "Godspeed".