Elizabeth Lillian "Lizzie" Lewis (née Spaulding, formerly Randall) was a fictional character on the CBS daytime soap opera Guiding Light. She was one of the soap's most popular and featured characters. She was the daughter of supercouple Phillip Spaulding and ex-wife, Beth Raines. Lizzie was born on-screen on Thanksgiving in 1990, but this was later revised to 1986 when she turned 18 in 2004. She is the third Elizabeth in her family; her paternal grandmother and mother's first names are Elizabeth as well. The character of Lizzie Spaulding has been portrayed by six different actresses, with Marcy Rylan most recently playing the role since she was cast in 2006 to Guiding Light's cancellation in 2009. Hayden Panettiere was the de facto originator of the role, which she portrayed from 1996 until 2001. For Lizzie's battle with leukemia in 2000, the show received a Special Recognition Award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for bringing national awareness of the disease to the attention of daytime viewers. In 2005, Panettiere's successor Crystal Hunt received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series as well as a Soap Opera Digest Award nomination for her portrayal.

Hayden Leslie Panettiere (pronounced /ˌpænɨtiˈɛər/; born August 21, 1989) is an American actress, singer and model. She began her acting career by playing Sarah Roberts on One Life to Live (1994–1997), and Lizzie Spaulding on Guiding Light (1996–2000), before starring at age 10 as Sheryl Yoast in the Disney feature film Remember the Titans. Her most notable role to date is that of cheerleader Claire Bennet on the NBC series Heroes (2006–2010), for which she won several awards. Her most recent roles include her portrayal of the title character in true crime drama Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy and Kirby Reed in the slasher film Scream 4.

Panettiere was born in and partly raised in Palisades, New York, the daughter of Lesley R. Vogel, a former soap opera actress, and Alan Lee "Skip" Panettiere, a fire department lieutenant. Panettiere has Italian ancestry, and her surname means "baker" in Italian. Her mother's family is from Indiana. She has one younger brother, fellow actor Jansen Panettiere.