Vanessa Hudgens Biography

Vanessa Hudgens is an American actress and singer mostly known for her role as Gabriella Montez in the High School Musical series.

Early Life

Vanessa Anne Hudgens was born in Salinas, California on December 14, 1988, raised as a Roman Catholic. At age 8 she started performing as a singer in musical theater Cinderella. Wanting to get more exposure, Vanessa’s family moved to LA in order for her to shoot TV commercials.

High School Musical

Hudgens got her first role on TV with the sitcom Still Standing. She made her film debut on in 2003 with the critically praised film, Thirteen. In 2005 she was cast as one of the main roles in the Disney effort, the High School Musical movie. Starring along Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale, the 2006 project was both a critical and commercial success. The movie scored 7.7 million viewers in the US and was the 2nd most watched slot on Disney.

Focus on Music

In terms of music, the movie offered Vanessa many opportunities. Her duet, Breaking Free with her love interest in the film, Zac Efron became Hudgens’ first and only Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten hit. She then released her debut album, called V in 2006 accompanied by 2 singles Come Back to Me and Say OK. The LP was number 24 on  Billboard 200 and was certified gold in 2007. The same year, High School Musical 2 premiered to 17 million views, becoming the highest-rated Disney Channel movie of all time. Taking the advantage of the series success, Vanessa issued her second album Identified. It was a commercial failure, encountering some success on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart. In 2008, the High School Musical series ended with the release of High School Musical 3: Senior Year. The film broke the record for biggest opening by a musical, eventually earning a total of 252 million dollars around the world.

Focus on Film

Deciding to concentrate on acting, Vanessa returned to theater with her role as Mimi in the musical Rent. The SF romance movie Beastly premiered in 2011 and was received with critical negative feedback. Nonetheless, the movie made 28 million dollars at the box office. The action film Sucker Punch was next, making 89 million dollars internationally. The 325 million dollar success followed Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Hudgens starred in a number of movies next, such as the drama Gimme Shelter, the comedy Spring Breakers, and the thriller The Frozen Ground. In 2015 she chose Broadway with Gigi and in 2016 she played Rizzo in Grease: Live. Vanessa was cast in the new TV series DC Comic-based Powerless.

Photo credit: Billboard