Vanessa Hudgens

Vanessa Anne Hudgens (born December 14, 1988) is an American actress and singer.

Starting in 1998, Hudgens performed in musical theater as a singer, and appeared in local productions of Carousel, The Wizard of Oz, The King and I, The Music Man, and Cinderella, among others.

Two years after her career in stage plays and musicals, she began auditioning for commercials and television shows, and her family moved to Los Angeles after she won a role in a television commercial.

She began her acting career at age 15, and she briefly attended Orange County High School of the Arts, followed by homeschooling with tutors.

Hudgens had her first acting role in an episode of the sitcom Still Standing, airing on CBS in 2002, in which she portrayed Tiffany.

Later that year, she guest starred in an episode of the series Robbery Homicide Division, airing on CBS.

After making her feature film debut in Thirteen (2003), Hudgens rose to fame portraying Gabriella Montez in the High School Musical film series (2006–2008), which brought her significant mainstream media success.

Hudgens made her theatrical debut in the 2003 drama film Thirteen, in the supporting role of Noel.

The film, which revolved around teenager Tracy trying to fit in and getting caught up in the wrong crowd, was somewhat of a commercial success, grossing $10 million worldwide.

Despite its minor commercial success, the film received positive critical reviews.

USA Today called Thirteen the most "powerful of all recent wayward-youth sagas".

Hudgens subsequently landed a role in the 2004 science fiction-adventure film Thunderbirds, based on the 1960s television series.

Hudgens portrayed the character of Tin-tin.

The film was a commercial failure and was strongly criticized for "abandoning the original concepts".

The success of the first film led Hudgens to acquire a recording contract with Hollywood Records, with whom she released two studio albums, V (2006) and Identified (2008).

Since the release of her studio albums and the High School Musical franchise, Hudgens has focused on her acting career.

In January 2006, Hudgens played Gabriella Montez, one of the lead roles in the Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical.

The film saw Hudgens portraying the new girl at high school who falls for the captain of the basketball team.

The two later reveal a passion for singing, and audition for the school play together.

Hudgens starred alongside Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale, the former of which she was partnered up with during the auditioning process due to their "chemistry".

It was Disney Channel's most-watched film that year with 7.7 million viewers in its premiere broadcast in the US, until August's premiere of The Cheetah Girls 2, which achieved 8.1 million viewers.

For the film, Hudgens recorded numerous songs which had commercial success.

The song "Breaking Free", a duet with Zac Efron, became Hudgens' highest peak on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 4, and number 9 in the UK.

Following the success of the film, Hudgens released her debut studio album, V, on September 26, 2006.

It sold 34,000 copies in its first week, and debuted at number 24 on the US Billboard 200 chart.

In February 2007, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.

She appeared in the films Bandslam (2009), Beastly, Sucker Punch (both 2011), Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Spring Breakers (both 2012), Second Act (2018), Bad Boys for Life (2020), and Tick, Tick...Boom! (2021).

As of August 2009, the album has sold 570,000 copies in the US.

It was preceded by two singles, "Come Back to Me" and "Say OK", both of which were moderately successful in several countries.

Both singles received promotion on Disney Channel, with the music videos for both premiering on the channel.

She made her Broadway debut playing the title role in the musical revival of Gigi (2015) and had roles in two of Fox's live musical productions: Rizzo in Grease Live! (2016) and Maureen Johnson in Rent: Live (2019).

In 2022, Hudgens co-hosted the Met Gala in Manhattan.

Vanessa Anne Hudgens was born in Salinas, California, and was raised along the West Coast, from Oregon to Southern California.

Her mother, Gina (née Guangco), held a succession of office jobs, and her father, Gregory Hudgens, was a firefighter.

She has a younger sister, Stella, who is also an actress.

She was raised as a Catholic.

Her father, who died of cancer in February 2016, was of mostly English descent, and her mother is Filipina, who grew up in Mindanao.

All of her grandparents were musicians.

Hudgens played the role of Emily Locke in the NBC series Powerless (2017).

She starred in the Netflix Christmas movies The Princess Switch (2018) and its sequels (2020 and 2021) and The Knight Before Christmas (2019), and co-produced the latter three.