Hayden Panettiere Loves Heroes, Dolphins, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Love Hewitt

Just call Hayden Panettiere the next Angelina Jolie.

Well, at least in terms of the Heroes' star's activist streak.

"Absolutely, I would take that," Panettiere told People. "She was definitely one of my inspirations growing up and she was definitely somebody I looked up to."

While Angelina Jolie is a strong advocate for humanitarian causes, the Heroes star is making headlines for her work on behalf of marine mammals.

A warrant was issued for Hayden Panettiere in Japan after she and other activists attempted to protect dolphins from being slaughtered by local fishermen.

Hayden Panettiere looks up to Angelina. And most others. She's 5'1"!

"I grew up near the Hudson River in New York. I didn't grow up in the water; I don't surf," she said. "People think I surf because of the footage. I was just in a panic and happened to paddle really fast. I was hauling butt out there!"

Hayden Panettiere credits the success of Heroes with helping give her both the inner strength and the star power to bring attention to these types of issues. But the show's success can be viewed in yet another way by Hollywood's teen queen:

"It has completely ruined my personal life. I mean, you walk out the door and you've got 10 cameras in your face. Obviously everything in my life is on display whether it be true or false ... 99 percent of it false."

For now, Hayden Panettiere says her job is about all the social life she can handle, and she prefers a quiet night at home over any sort of club scene.

"At home in bed with a movie and pizza and good friends," is her ideal night. "I'd probably be watching Little Britain, a BBC TV show. It is phenomenal."

And her dating life since she turned 18?

"I'm not really a chain dater. I'm not the kind of person who gives herself up that easily. So, I think it's attracting creepy old men, but it's changed a bit," she said, coyly stating in response to whether she's dating somebody, "I have a lot of special people in my life."

Meanwhile, Hayden Panettiere is more vocal on how she handles the pressures of body image as a young woman, particularly amidst criticism of celebrity news sites such as we saw with those recent Jennifer Love Hewitt pics.

"Did you see TMZ the other day where I bent over and they took a picture of me, and there was a conversation on whether I had cottage cheese thighs or not?" she asked. "It makes me feel awful. I'm sorry, but no woman looks good under overhead lighting. It was not good lighting!"

"I'm a teenage girl and I have the same body issues. There are parts of my body that I don't mind, and there're parts of my body that I absolutely can't stand. And I don't need somebody pointing them out to me, because trust me, I know they're there. You don't need to tell anyone else about it. It doesn't need to be strewn across a magazine. It's my business. And the fact that you don't have anything better to talk about than my thigh fat is absolutely absurd. It just goes to show you the pathetic people in this world. I give Jennifer Love Hewitt all the support in the world. She's beautiful."