Zac Efron

Efron was born in San Luis Obispo, California, and later moved to Arroyo Grande, California. His father, David Efron, is an electrical engineer at a power station, and his mother, Starla Baskett, is a former secretary who worked at the same power plant. Efron has a younger brother, Dylan, and had, as he described it, a "normal childhood" in a middle class family. He is an agnostic, having never been religious. His surname, "Efron", means "lark" in Hebrew (his paternal grandfather was Jewish).

Efron has said that he would "flip out" if he got a "B" and not an "A" in school, and has also described himself as having been a class clown. His father encouraged him to begin acting when he was 11 years old. Efron subsequently appeared in theater productions at his high school,[11] worked in the theater The Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville, and began taking singing lessons. He performed in shows such as Gypsy; Peter Pan; or, The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up; Little Shop of Horrors; and The Music Man. He was recommended to an agent in Los Angeles by his drama teacher, Robyn Metchik (the mother of actors Aaron Michael Metchik and Asher Metchik). Efron was later signed to the Creative Artists Agency.

  • Breakthrough
    • In 2006, Efron starred in the Disney Channel original movie High School Musical as Troy Bolton, a 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, on February 4, 2006, Efron debuted with two simultaneous charted songs on Billboard Hot 100 from the film: "Get'cha Head in the Game" and "Breaking Free", a duet with Hudgens. 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. 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.

  • 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", in which he played her love interest. The video aired on March 16, 2007 on the 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 (as of August 2007, he was 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. His 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. 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. 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.

    In early 2008, Efron was cast in 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 was released 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 reprised his role in High School Musical 3: Senior Year, which was theatrically released on October 24, 2008. His next role was in 2009's 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).

    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. On April 11, 2009, Efron hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live. 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.

    Efron starred in a series of advertisements, along with Kristen Bell and Sean Combs, promoting the 2010 MTV Movie Awards and the host, Aziz Ansari. In 2009, he signed on to play title character in the movie Charlie St. Cloud. The film was released on July 30, 2010.

    Efron was second on People's 2011 Most Beautiful list.

  • Filmography
    • Untitled Ramin Bahrani Film (filming) - Dean Whipple
    2012 The Lorax - Ted (voice)
    2012 The Paperboy (post-production) - Jack James
    2012 Liberal Arts (post-production) - Nat
    2011 New Year's Eve (post-production) - Paul
    2012 The Lucky One - Logan Thibault
    2010 Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III (TV movie) - Anakin Skywalker (voice)
    2010 Charlie St. Cloud - Charlie St. Cloud
    2009 17 Again - Mike O'Donnell (Teen)
    2009 Robot Chicken (TV series)
    – I Love Her (2009) … Harry Potter (voice) / Horrg (voice) / Bowling Pin (voice)
    – Tell My Mom (2009) … Billy Joel (voice) / Mechanic (voice)
    2008 High School Musical 3: Senior Year - Troy Bolton
    2008 Me and Orson Welles - Richard Samuels
    2007 High School Musical 2 (TV movie) - Troy Bolton
    2007 Hairspray - Link Larkin
    2006 The Replacements (TV series)
    Davey Hunkerhoff (2006) … Davey Hunkerhoff (voice)
    2006 Heist (TV series)
    – Pilot (2006) … Pizza Guy #1
    2006 Disney 365 (TV series)
    – Pirates of the Caribbean 2 Premiere (2006)
    2006 The Suite Life of Zack and Cody (TV series)
    – Odd Couples (2006) … Trevor
    2006 High School Musical (TV movie) - Troy Bolton
    2006 NCIS (TV series)
    – Deception (2006) … Danny
    2006 If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Now (TV movie) - Cody
    2005 The Derby Stallion - Patrick McCardle
    2004-2005 Summerland (TV series) - Cameron Bale
    – Safe House (2005) … Cameron Bale
    – Signs (2005) … Cameron Bale
    – Leaving Playa Linda (2005) … Cameron Bale
    – The Pleiades (2005) … Cameron Bale
    – Mr. and Mrs. Who (2005) … Cameron Bale
    2005 CSI: Miami (TV series)
    – Sex & Taxes (2005) … Seth Dawson
    2004 Miracle Run (TV movie) - Stephen Morgan
    2004 The Guardian (TV series)
    – Without Consent (2004) … Luke Tomello
    2004 Triple Play (TV movie) - Harry Fuller
    2003 ER (TV series)
    – Dear Abby (2003) … Bobby Neville
    2003 The Big Wide World of Carl Laemke (TV movie) - Pete Laemke
    2002 Firefly (TV series)
    – Safe (2002) … Young Simon

    Courtesy of Wikipedia & IMDB