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Zac EfronBackground informationBirth name Born Occupation(s) Years active

Zachary David Alexander Efron

October 18, 1987 (1987-10-18) (age 20) San Luis Obispo, California, USA

Actor, Singer

2002–present (actor)

Zachary David Alexander Efron (born October 18, 1987) is an American actor and singer. He began acting in the early 2000s, and became known to young audiences after his roles in the Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical,[1] the WB series Summerland, and the film version of the Broadway musical Hairspray.[2] Speaking to Newsweek in June 2006, director Adam Shankman described Efron as "arguably the biggest teen star in America right now."[3] 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 issue.[4]

Contents [hide] 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Education 1.3 Early work 1.4 High School Musical 1.5 2007-present 1.6 Personal life 2 Filmography 3 Discography 3.1 Soundtracks 3.2 Singles 4 Awards and nominations 4.1 Awards 4.2 Nominations 5 References 6 External links

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Biography

Early life

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.[5][6] Although of Jewish ancestry, Efron was raised agnostic and has never been religious.[7] Efron had a self-described "normal childhood" in a middle class family,[1] and has a younger brother, Dylan. 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."[8] Efron's father encouraged him to begin acting when Efron was eleven.[5] He subsequently appeared in theater productions at his high school,[9] worked in a theater called The Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville,[1] and began taking singing lessons.[5] Efron performed in plays such as Gypsy, Peter Pan, Little Shop of Horrors, The Music Man and Mame, appearing at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts and graduating from the same.[10] 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).[10][11]

Education

Efron was accepted to the University of Southern California, but deferred his enrollment to Spring 2007 while he works on film projects. He plans to return at some time.[12]

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 and Lori Loughlin. Since appearing in Summerland, he has also had guest roles on the shows CSI: Miami, NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, 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.[13] 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.

High School Musical

In 2006, Efron starred in the Disney Channel original movie High School Musical as Troy Bolton. The film, which he initially made with "low expectations",[1] helped Efron gain recognition among teenage audiences as both an actor and a singer. As a result, he placed as high as #4 on the IMDBPro's STARMeter for the week of January 29, 2006.[14] In August 2006, Efron won a Teen Choice Award in the Breakout Star and the TV - Choice Chemistry categories, shared with Vanessa Anne 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 Anne 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 has since been beaten by Eminem and Akon's "Smack That." [15] 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 Andrew Seeley's voice was blended with his on the soundtrack of High School Musical.[16] 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. Efron's subsequent singing performances in Hairspray and High School Musical 2 were genuine, though arguably not as polished as those of Seeley's. Efron stated in interviews that he feels his future is that of a serious dramatic actor, not necessarily a singer.

2007-present

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")[6] and was teased for the "huge gap" in his teeth.[17]
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,[3] 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.[18] Both Efron's performance and the film have received positive reviews.[10]
Efron presented the 2007 Teen Choice Award for "Favorite Movie" alongside Queen Latifah.[19]
Efron's upcoming roles include Seventeen, a high school-set drama/comedy produced by Adam Shankman and based on a pitch by Jason Filardi;[20] the plot involves an adult who is transformed into a 17-year old (to be played by Efron).[21] Efron is also scheduled to star in Paramount's musical remake of the film Footloose;[22] he has said that he would like to add his "own little bit of flair" to the role originated by Kevin Bacon.[6]
For his portrayal of Link Larkin in Hairspray, Efron (along with his co-star Nikki Blonsky) won the "One to Watch" award of the Young Hollywood Awards.[23]
Efron appeared on the cover of the August 2007 edition of Rolling Stone.[24] The article about him revealed that he hopes to someday play an action hero.
Efron has finalized negotiations with the producers of Seventeen, a film slated to commence shooting in December 2007.[25][26]
Before the release of High School Musical 2, Efron topped IMDBPro's Star Meter at #1, indicating that he was the most searched celebrity.[27] Additionally, Lycos reported searches for Efron surged by 81%.[28] Amid the frenzy surrounding Zac Efron, the release of High School Musical 2 set a new record, becoming the most watched basic cable program in U.S. history, with 17.2 million viewers.[29]
Efron co-hosted the 2007 Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards with The Veronicas on October 10 in Sydney.[30]

Personal life

Efron is represented by the Creative Artists Agency.[31]
Efron has two dogs, Australian shepherds named Dreamer and Puppy, along with a Siamese cat named Simon.[32]
Zac is currently involved in a relationship with his High School Musical, High School Musical 2 and High School Musical 3 co-star Vanessa Anne Hudgens.[33]
On January 15, 2008 Efron was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for an emergency appendectomy.[34]

Filmography

Year Film/television Role Notes

2002	Firefly	Young Simon Tam
2003	Melinda's World	Stuart Wasser
	The Guardian	Luke Tomello
	ER	Bobby Neville
	The Big Wide World of Carl Laemke	Pete Laemke
2004	Miracle Run	Steven Morgan
	Room Raiders	Himself
	Triple Play	Harry Fuller
2005	Sick Inside by Hope Partlow - music video	Love Interest
	Summerland	Cameron Bale
	CSI: Miami	Seth Dawson
	The Replacements	Davey Hunkerhoff
2006	If You Lived Here, You'd be Home Now	Cody
	Heist	Pizza Delivery Guy
	The Suite Life of Zack & Cody	Trevor
	High School Musical	Troy Bolton
	NCIS	Danny
	The Derby Stallion	Patrick McCardle
2007	Punk'd	Himself
	Hairspray	Link Larkin
	High School Musical 2	Troy Bolton
2008
	17	Mike O'Donnell (teen)	Filming
	High School Musical 3	Troy Bolton	Pre-Production
	Me & Orson Welles	Richard Samuels	Pre-Production
	Footloose	Ren McCormick

Discography

Soundtracks

• 2006: High School Musical: The Soundtrack - January 10, 2006
• 2007: Hairspray Soundtrack - July 10, 2007
• 2007: High School Musical 2: The Soundtrack — August 14, 2007

Singles

Year Title Album Chart positionsU.S.U.S. Pop 100UKAUSARCNZ

2006	"Breaking Free" (with Vanessa Anne Hudgens and Andrew Seeley)	High School Musical Soundtrack	4	6	9	13	-	5
	"Start of Something New" (with Vanessa Anne Hudgens and Andrew Seeley)		28	30	-	-	-	-
	"What I've Been Looking For (Reprise)" (with Vanessa Anne Hudgens)		67	54	-	-	-	-
2007	"It Takes Two"	Hairspray Soundtrack	-	-	-	-	-	-
	2007	"Ladies' Choice"	Hairspray Soundtrack	-	-	96 [35]	-	-	-
		"What Time Is It?"	High School Musical 2 Soundtrack	6	6	20	20	-	-
		"Bet On It"		46	35	65	-	-	-
		"You Are the Music in Me" (with Vanessa Anne Hudgens and Olesya Rulin)		31	28	26	-	-	-
		"Gotta Go My Own Way" (with Vanessa Anne Hudgens)		34	31	40	-	-	-
"Everyday" (with Vanessa Anne Hudgens)		65		46	55	-	-	-

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

[[1]] Picture at Awards Ceremony

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

References

External links

• Zac Efron at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata

NAME	Efron, Zachary David Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Efron, Zac
SHORT DESCRIPTION	American actor
DATE OF BIRTH	October 18, 1987
PLACE OF BIRTH	San Luis Obispo, California
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH