Zachary David Alexander "
Zac"
Efron (born October 18, 1987) is an American
actor and
singer. He began acting professionally in the early 2000s, and became known to young audiences after his roles in the
Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical, the
WB series
Summerland, and the 2007 film version of the
Broadway musical
Hairspray.
In 2007, right before the release of
High School Musical 2,
Rolling Stone declared him the "poster boy for tweenyboppers" and featured him in their late August 2007 issue.
Early life and 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.
Efron had a self-described "normal childhood" in a
middle class family. He has a younger brother, Dylan.
Efron is of
Jewish ancestry and is an
agnostic, having never been religious.
He has said that he would "flip out" if he got a B and not an A in school but endorsed being a
class clown.
Although self-described as not academically gifted, he remained focused enough to achieve an overall
GPA of 4.3.
[www.usaweekend.com/09_issues/090412/090412zac-efron.html] Efron's father encouraged him to begin acting when Efron 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 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.
Education
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.
Career
Early work
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 (TV series),
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.
Breakthrough
In 2006, Efron starred in the
Disney Channel original movie
High School Musical as Troy Bolton, the popular student and captain of the
basketball team. The film, which he initially made with "low expectations",
helped Efron gain recognition among teenage audiences as both an actor and a singer, even though his singing voice was
overdubbed. As a result, he placed as high as #4 on the
IMDBPro's STARMeter for the week of January 29, 2006.
In August 2006, Efron won a
Teen Choice Award in the Breakout Star and the TV — Choice Chemistry categories, shared with
Vanessa Hudgens. The film's cast, along with Efron, toured
Sydney, Australia,
London, England, and other locations to promote the film.
Shortly after
High School Musical aired, Efron debuted with two simultaneous charted songs on
Billboard Hot 100 on February 4, 2006, with "
Get'cha Head in the Game" and "
Breaking Free", a duet with Vanessa Hudgens from the film. On the following week's chart, Efron had five simultaneous song credits from
High School Musical: "Get'cha Head in the Game", "
Start of Something New", "
What I've Been Looking For: Reprise", "
We're All in This Together" and "Breaking Free." "
We're All in This Together" was credited to the whole
High School Musical cast. "Breaking Free", at the time, made the fastest climb in the history of the Billboard charts, from #86 to #4 between the two weeks; the record was beaten by
Beyoncé and
Shakira's "
Beautiful Liar".
Efron also appeared in the 2006
Disney Channel Games as captain of the Red Team.
Efron's singing talents were disputed when it was revealed that
Drew Seeley's voice was blended with his on the
soundtrack of High School Musical.
[Billboard.com] An August 23, 2007 interview in
Rolling Stone magazine revealed that he had been cast in
High School Musical after the songs were written, and the songs (written for a tenor) were somewhat out of his baritone vocal range. However, Efron stated in interviews that he felt his future is that of a serious dramatic actor, not necessarily a singer.
Career development
[] at the
81st Academy Awards]].
On April 7, 2007, Efron appeared in an episode of
Punk'd. Efron also starred in the music video for Vanessa Hudgens's single "
Say OK", where he played her love interest. The video aired on March 16, 2007 on Disney Channel. That year, he was named one of
People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People in 2007. A picture and short profile of him was in the section "Coming of Age". In it, he related how he was always the shortest kid in school (he is now 5'8")
and was teased for the "huge gap" in his teeth.
In 2006, Efron was cast as Link Larkin in a film version of
Hairspray released on July 20, 2007. Efron performed all of his own vocals in the role,
which was filmed in
Toronto,
Ontario, from September 5 to December 2, 2006. He cut and dyed his hair dark brown and gained about 15 pounds for the role.
Efron's performance and the film received positive reviews.
Efron was not able to perform with his fellow castmates in
High School Musical: The Concert because of commitments on the film Hairspray. Drew Seeley took over for him.
High School Musical 2 was released in August 2007, and Efron topped
IMDBPro's Star Meter at #1, indicating that he was the most searched celebrity. Additionally,
Lycos reported searches for Efron surged by 81%.
The film set a new record, becoming the most watched basic cable program in U.S. history, with 17.2 million viewers.
Efron also appeared on the cover of the August 2007 edition of
Rolling Stone.
[Strauss, Neil (August 23, 2007), Zac Efron - the new American hearthrob, The Rolling Stone, pg 43. Retrieved August 21, 2007.] The article about him revealed that he hoped to someday play an
action hero. Efron presented the 2007
Teen Choice Award for "Favorite Movie" along with
Queen Latifah, and later that year, he co-hosted the
Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards with
The Veronicas on October 10 in Sydney.
Efron reprised his role in
High School Musical 3: Senior Year, which was theatrically released on October 24, 2008. His next role was in
17 Again, a high school-set
comedy-drama produced by
Adam Shankman and based on a pitch by Jason Filardi;
the plot involved an adult who is transformed into a 17-year old (played by Efron).
was released in 2009.
In early 2008, Efron was cast as the lead role in the film
Me and Orson Welles. Based on Robert Kaplow's novel of the same name, the story, set in 1937 New York, tells of a teenager hired to star in Orson Welles' production of Julius Caesar, where he becomes attracted to a career-driven production assistant. The film was shot in the
Isle of Man, London and
New York, during February — April 2008. It was introduced to North America via the Toronto Film Festival on September 5, 6, and 11, 2008
and scheduled for release in 2009. Efron was also scheduled to star in Paramount's musical remake of the film
Footloose,
and has said that he would like to add his "own little bit of flair" to the role originated by
Kevin Bacon.
In March 2009 he dropped out of the film.
Efron was quoted as saying that while it was a promising gig, he left the project because he "was looking for a new challenge, and this was another musical."
Efron signed on to play a role in the movie "The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud"
In 2009, Efron was revealed to be connected to the live action rendition of the Japanese anime
Full Metal Panic, simply entitled "Panic".
[www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=8224] He is also starring in the title role of the live-action adaptation of the
Jonny Quest cartoons.
On April 8, 2009, Efron's participation in a comedic short video entitled "Zac Efron's Pool Party" for the website
Funny Or Die was released for public viewing.
[www.funnyordie.com/videos/557c57321b/zac-efron-s-pool-party] On April 11, 2009, Efron hosted an episode of
Saturday Night Live.
[snl.jt.org/ep.php?i=200904110] In early
June 2009 it was confirmed that Efron would be making a guest appearance during the sixth season of HBO's comedy series
Entourage.
Personal life
Efron owns an apartment in Los Angeles, California. On January 15, 2008, Efron was hospitalized at
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for an emergency
appendectomy.
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. As of April 5, 2009, his personal wealth equaled about $10 million.
confirmed in an October 2007 interview with
Teen that she and Efron began dating in 2005 during the filming of
High School Musical.
[www.blurtit.com/q617315.html]
In an interview with Elle Girl, Efron stated he was a fan of
Shonen Jump Japanese
manga, listing
Death Note,
Dragonball Z,
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, and
Bleach amongst his favorites.
[www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMczuwNuHi0]
Filmography
Discography
Soundtracks
Charted songs
Awards and nominations
Awards
- 2006 - Teen Choice Award: Choice Breakout Star
- 2006 - Teen Choice Award: Choice Chemistry for High School Musical (with Vanessa Hudgens)
- 2007 - Kids' Choice Award: Best Male Actor
- 2007 - Teen Choice Award: Choice Male Hottie
- 2007 - Hollywood Film Award: Ensemble of the Year (shared with the rest of the Hairspray cast)
- 2007 - Young Hollywood Award: One to Watch in Hairspray
- 2008 - MTV Movie Award: Breakthrough Performance for Hairspray
- 2009 - MTV Movie Award: Best Male Performance for High School Musical 3: Senior Year
- 2009 - Teen Choice Award: Choice Movie Actor Comedy for 17 Again
- 2009 - Teen Choice Award: Choice Movie Actor Music/Dance for High School Musical 3: Senior Year
- 2009 - Teen Choice Award: Choice Rockstar Moment for 17 Again
Nominations
- 2005 - Young Artist Award: Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special by a Supporting Actor for Miracle Run
- 2007 - Young Artist Award: Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special by a Lead Actor for High School Musical
- 2008 - Critics Choice Award: Best Song for Hairspray (2007) Shared With: Queen Latifah, Nikki Blonsky, Elijah Kelley — "Come So Far".
- 2009 - MTV Movie Award: Best Kiss for High School Musical 3: Senior Year (shared with Vanessa Hudgens)
