American zookeeper Stephanie Kay Panabaker previously worked as a kid voice actress and actress. In the 2000s, she worked in both film and television. She started performing on stage at a young age, taking after her actress sister Danielle Panabaker. She did, however, make her big-screen debut before her sister, lending extra voices to 2001’s “Monster Inc.” She made her debut television appearance in the soap opera “Port Charles” a year later. She then took on a number of guest appearances in popular shows like “ER,” “7th Heaven,” and “Angel.” She appeared in two Disney films back-to-back in 2005 and 2006, “Life is Rough” and “Read it and Weep,” the latter of which she co-starred in with her sister. At the height of her career, her academic brilliance and Hollywood celebrity were enhanced by the fact that she completed college before turning 18. In order to pursue a career in zoology, Panabaker gave up acting in 2012.
Career of Kay Panabaker
As a young child, Kay Panabaker and her sister Danielle began performing in stage shows. ‘Monster Inc’, a computer-animated comedy film from Pixar, marked the beginning of her career on the big screen sooner than her sister. Her career got off to the ideal start thanks to the film, which was both a critical and financial success. She decided on the short film “Temptation” by Roman Güttinger as her subsequent endeavor. She later made her television debut in an episode of the ABC soap opera “Port Charles,” a spin-off of another series called “General Hospital.” In the 2002 crime comedy-drama “Dead Heat,” Kiefer Sutherland and Radha Mitchell collaborated with Panabaker.
She gained experience during the ensuing years by playing tiny but important roles in numerous famous series. She portrayed Melissa Rue in the ER episode “The Letter” from 2002, Alice Brand in the “Regarding Eric” episode from “7th Heaven,” Susie Jenkins in the “Cold Comfort” episode from “The Division,” and Carrie Bauer in the “Moving on Up” episode from “The Brothers Garcia” from 2003. ‘Forgiving’ (2002) and ‘Habeas Corpses’ (2003) of The WB’s supernatural drama ‘Angel’ were two of the two episodes she appeared in.
2004 was a significant year for her career. In the television drama “Summerland,” starring Stephen Tolkin and Lori Loughlin, she was given the role of Nicole “Nikki” Westerly. Her first major role, in which she was paired with Zac Efron, earned her the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) – major Young Actress in 2005.
She appeared in 13 episodes of the science fiction sitcom “Phil of the Future” (2004–2005) and played Deborah “Debbie” Berwick. The Disney-produced program served as the beginning of a professional partnership between her and the organization that would endure the duration of her acting career. She later played the lead in the Disney Channel film “Life is Ruff.” She collaborated with her sister on the Disney television movie “Read It and Weep” in 2006.
In the comedy-drama movie “Moondance Alexander,” which tells the story of a girl’s unwavering ambition to turn an ordinary horse into a champion racer, Panabaker won her first leading role as the movie’s title character. In the “Nancy Drew” movie adaptation from 2007, she also portrayed George Fayne.
In “A Modern Twain Story: The Prince and the Pauper” (2007), she collaborated with Dylan and Cole Sprouse of “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody” fame, and in “Fame” (2009), a loose replica of the 1980 movie of the same name, she worked with Kelsey Grammer and Charles S. Dutton. She joined the main cast of ABC’s “No Ordinary Family” in 2010–2011, playing Daphne Nicole Powell, a 16-year-old with telepathic abilities. Then in 2012, she appeared in the independent film “Little Birds” starring Juno Temple.
The 2012 comedy ‘Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3: Viva la Fiesta!’ was her most recent acting endeavor. After this, Panabaker left the entertainment business to attend the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to study zoology. She currently works as an animal caretaker at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Individual Life of Kay Panabaker
Kay is the younger daughter of Donna (née Mayock) and Harold Panabaker. She was born on May 2, 1990, in Orange, Texas. Danielle, her sister, is 2.5 years older than she is. The Panabaker girls grew up accustomed to a nomadic lifestyle of frequent travel because their father had a sales job. Kay, a prodigy, spent her childhood developing in the creatively rich and culturally diverse cities of Chicago, Illinois; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Atlanta, Georgia. Like her sister before her, Kay fell in love with acting and community theatre during this time.
She also valued education highly. For sixth grade, she attended Crone Middle School in Naperville, Illinois. She, Danielle, and their mother relocated to Los Angeles, California, before the start of her seventh grade in 2003 so that the sisters could focus more on acting. When she was just 13 years old, she graduated as valedictorian. She studied acting at Glendale Community College while receiving two academic scholarships and was on the Dean’s list. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in April 2008 after two years of honors-based coursework at UCLA in the history program.
Kay Panabaker’s Net Worth
Trivia
Panabaker is a StarPower Ambassador for the Starlight Children’s Foundation.
She received the Temecula Valley International Film Festival’s Rising Star Award in 2007.