Zachary David Alexander "Zac" Efron is an American actor, voice actor, and singer, who began acting in the early 2000s and became known to young audiences after his roles as Cameron Bale in The WB drama series Summerland, as well as Link Larkin in the 2007 film version of the Broadway musical Hairspray. Speaking to Newsweek in June 2006, director Adam Shankman described Efron as "arguably the biggest teen star in America right now."
He also portrayed Troy Bolton in the High School Musical film trilogy and was mentioned in the Wizards of Waverly Place episode "Wizards vs. Angels" and the Bunk'd episode "Dreams Come True". In 2007, right before the release of High School Musical 2, Rolling Stone declared him the "poster boy for tweeny boppers" and featured him in their late August issue.
Outside of Disney, Efron is well-known for playing Mike O'Donnell (at age 17) in the 2009 teen fantasy comedy film 17 Again, Phillip Carlyle in the 2017 musical drama film The Greatest Showman, and for voicing Ted Wiggins in Universal/Illumination's 2012 adaptation of The Lorax and Fred Jones in the 2020 WAG computer-animated film Scoob!.
Background[]
Efron was born in San Luis Obispo, California, and later moved to Arroyo Grande, California. His father, David Efron, is an engineer at a power plant, and his mother, Starla Baskett, is a former secretary who worked at the same power plant as Efron's father. Efron had a self-described "normal childhood" in a middle-class family, and has a younger brother, Dylan, and a younger paternal half-sister, Olivia. Efron is an agnostic, having never been religious (his paternal grandfather was Jewish, and Zac has described himself as Jewish). He has said that he would "flip out" if he got a "B" and not an "A" in school, and that he was a "class clown". His father encouraged Efron to begin acting when he was eleven. He subsequently appeared in theater productions at his high school, worked in a theater called The Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville, and began taking singing lessons. Efron performed in Broadway plays, such as Gypsy, Peter Pan; or, The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, Little Shop of Horrors, and The Music Man. Efron was recommended to an agent in Los Angeles by his drama teacher Robyn Metchik (the mother of actors Aaron Michael Metchik and Asher Metchik). He was later signed to the Creative Artists Agency.
Efron graduated from Arroyo Grande High School in 2006 and was then accepted into the University of Southern California, but he deferred his enrollment while he worked on film projects. He plans to return at some time. Efron also attended Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, a community college located in Santa Maria, California, which provided him with the opportunity to perform as a "young player" during the years of 2000 and 2001.
Acting career[]
In 2002, Efron began to appear in guest roles on several television series, including Firefly, ER, and The Guardian. He portrayed Cameron Bale on the now-cancelled WB series Summerland. Originally introduced as a recurring character, Efron became a regular cast member on the show in the second season in 2004, starring opposite the likes of Kay Panabaker, Lori Loughlin, and Jesse McCartney. Since appearing in Summerland, he has also had guest roles on the shows CSI: Miami, NCIS, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, and The Replacements. In 2003, Efron starred in the Lifetime original television movie Miracle Run. He played Steven Morgan, one of two autistic twins. For his performance, he was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Movie, Mini-series or Special — Supporting Young Actor. In 2005, he played a main character in Hope Partlow's music video for her song "Sick Inside". Also in 2005, he played horse-loving Patrick McCardle in The Derby Stallion, where his character wants to beat the town bully at the steeple chase race.
Personal life[]
Efron owns an apartment and has two dogs, Australian shepherds named Dreamer and Puppy. He also has a Siamese cat named Simon. On January 15, 2008, Efron was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for an emergency appendectomy.
Zac Efron was also on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list in 2008, as number 92 with an estimated earning of $5.8 million from June 2007 to June 2008. Vanessa Hudgens confirmed, in an October 2007 interview with Teen magazine, that she and Efron had been dating since the filming of High School Musical. They broke up in December 2010 after a few years of dating. As of 2023, Efron currently resides in Australia.
Roles[]
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