Zac Efron's Birth Date:
October 18, 1987
Place of Birth:
San Luis Obispo, California
Full Name:
Zachary David Alexander Efron
Picking Up a Few Honors:
Zac Efron won the Teen Choice Award for Choice
Male Hottie in 2007 and the MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough
Performance for his role in Hairspray. Efron also won a Critics Choice award for Best Ensemble for Hairspray and was nominated for a Golden Globe and SAG Award as part of the Hairspray cast.
Role That Got Him Noticed:
His breakthrough performance came as part of the cast of Disney's hit TV movie High School Musical. He reprised his role in High School Musical 2 and High School Musical 3: Senior Year (the only film of the franchise made specifically for a theatrical release). High School Musical 2 broke cable TV records with a phenomenal 18.6 million viewers. The soundtrack to High School Musical produced five Top 40 singles and sold more than 4 million copies.
Other Big Screen Credits:
Efron had a part in the 2005 Derby Stallion and played the singing and dancing love interest of Nikki Blonsky in 2007's hit movie musical Hairspray. In 2008 he was cast in Me and Orson Welles, the story of a teenager cast in a production of Julius Ceasar directed by Orson Welles. In the comedy 17 Again Matthew Perry and Efron share the lead role, both playing the same character at different ages. Efron was attached to take on the role Kevin Bacon made famous in a remake of Footloose but backed out to pursue other options.
On the Stage:
Efron's appeared onstage in Gypsy, Peter Pan, Mame, Little Shop of Horrors, and The Music Man.
Zac Efron's Background:
Efron landed a small role in the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts musical production Gypsy at the age of 11. Singing and acting lessons followed, with Efron auditioning for local productions in his hometown and traveling to Los Angeles for auditions with his mother, Starla Baskett. His efforts lead to being cast in small roles in ER and The Guardian before signing on to Summerland, a WB TV show starring Lori Loughlin and Jesse McCartney. A critically acclaimed performance in the TV movie Miracle Mile came next, followed by the first High School Musical movie in 2006.
