Zac Efron's Biography

Zac Efron was born on October 18, 1987 near the small town of San Luis Obispo in California.

As a youngster, Zac Efron gained roles in plays, and he broke through into TV in 2002 in an episode of the Fox series Firefly.

A few small roles followed, before he made more of an impact in the TV film, Miracle Run, for which, Zac Efron was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Supporting Young Actor in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special.

Zac Efron also had a breakthrough playing Cameron Bale in the series Summerland in 2004, but he was about to give up acting and go to USC, where he had deferred his freshman year, when he hit the jackpot with the Disney feature High School Musical, in which he played the leading part of Troy Bolton.

The Disney Channel's song-and-dance film was a huge success.

The soundtrack was the Number 1 album in 2006 and the concert tour was a sell out.

Zac Efron's voice was overdubbed by that of singer Andrew Seeley in High School Musical, but not so, in the follow-up High School Musical 2.

The sequel, High School Musical 2 reportedly became the most-watched programme ever on basic cable channels in the United States with an estimated 17.2 million viewers.

In both the High School Musical films, Zac Efron plays opposite Vanessa Anne Hudgens, who, according to Time magazine, features on the background screen of Efron's iPhone.

In 2007, Zac Efron appeared along with John Travolta in Hairspray.

In April 2009, Zac Efron's film 17 Again reached number 1 in the North American box office charts.

Further film credits followed including The Paperboy directed by Lee Daniels.

In 2017, he was cast as Brody in a movie version of Baywatch.

In September 2020, the media reported on a romantic link between Zac Efron and Vanessa Valladares.

In 2021, his Netflix show Down to Earth with Zac Efrom won a daytime Emmy award.

In 2023, he was honoured with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

In 2024, he was reportedly "happy and healthy" after being taken to hospital following a swimming incident.