Kay Panabaker :: Biography

Kay Panabaker is an award-winning actress who, at the tender age of 17, is not only a veteran of television, stage, and film, but also holds a college degree!

Kay was born in Texas, but started acting in Community Theater while living in Atlanta. Told that all the big opportunities were in Los Angeles, Kay was encouraged by her agent to give the big city a try. During a one week visit to test the waters, Kay won a leading role in a feature for which they'd been seeing all the LA and NY talent - both boys and girls - between the ages of 7 & 12. This early success encouraged her family, and though still living near Chicago, Kay began auditioning in LA for TV and film roles.

After guest-starring roles in shows including "ER", "7th Heaven", and "Angel", in 2003 Kay was cast as Nikki Westerly on the drama "Summerland", and that necessitated a move to sunny California. The show was popular with young teens and ran for 2 seasons, during which Kay was singled out for her performance in the show with a Young Artist Award for "Best Performance by a Leading Young Actress in a TV Series - Comedy or Drama".

Kay has since been seen on TV shows including "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation", "Ghost Whisperer", "Boston Legal", "2 & 1/2 Men", "Medium", "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody", and "Phil of the Future", as well as two Disney Channel Original Movies, "Life is Ruff" and "Read It and Weep". She was seen in 2007 in the feature film "Nancy Drew", playing George, who fans of the books will recognize as one of Nancy's best friends, and in the Lifetime movie "Custody". DVD releases for 2008 include "Moondance Alexander" in stores this spring, and "The Prince & the Pauper", now available.

While in between projects, Kay focuses on her academics. Having finished her first 2 years of college and earning her Associates Degree at the age of 15, she is now a senior at UCLA as a history major. Kay was inspired by an elementary school teacher who made learning exciting, and she wants to do the same for others, hoping to teach 4th or 5th grade once she gets her teaching degree.

In between work and school, Kay finds time to be a regular kid, whose interests include arts and crafts (currently into beading) swimming, bowling, and dance. She also enjoys traveling, having visited all 50 states as well as Canada, Mexico and parts of Europe. An avid reader, Kay enjoys animals of all types and recently had the opportunity to be "zookeeper for a day" .