Kay Panabaker is an award-winning actress who, at the tender age of 15, 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 Medium, in last summer's Disney Channel Original Movie Life is Ruff, and will star in another DCOM this summer based on the novel How My Private, Personal Journal Became a Bestseller. She'll also be seen in the feature film Nancy Drew, playing George, who fans of the books will recognize as one of Nancy's best friends.
Currently between projects, Kay is focusing on her academics. Having recently finished her first 2 years of college, she's applied to UCLA for the fall term as a history major, and is taking a few history classes as prerequisites. 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, and recently finished her quest to visit all 50 states with a late summer visit to Alaska's Denali National Park.
