It took just one TV movie to change young actor Zac Efron from a supporting player to a bonafide teen star. Of course, that TV movie was The Disney Channel’s tween pop cultural phenomenon, “High School Musical” (2005), which elevated Efron to major league heartthrob status for his eminently crushable turn as a high school jock who discovers his hidden love for singing. Prior to “High School Musical,” the Arroyo Grande, CA native had appeared in a string of supporting and minor roles on television, most notably in the WB teen drama “Summerland” (2004-05), which starred another reigning tween favorite, Jesse McCartney.
Born Oct. 18, 1987 in San Luis Obispo, CA, Efron made his TV debut only a few years before “Summerland” and “High School Musical.” He’d developed an interest in acting after his parents encouraged him to exercise his innate singing talent through lessons and later local theater. After culling an impressive list of stage roles – including a long-running production of “Gypsy” – Efron took the next logical step and began pursuing screen acting jobs. Guest shots on “Firefly” (Fox, 2002-04) and “ER” (NBC, 1994- ), as well as the highly scripted “reality series” “Room Raiders” (MTV, 2004- ) preceded his first substantial turn as the autistic son of Mary-Louise Parker and Aidan Quinn in the 2003 Lifetime TV-movie, “Miracle Run.” The performance earned Efron a Young Artist Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
More television followed, including several failed pilots, before Efron landed the role of Cameron Bale on “Summerland.” Initially intended as a guest spot, Efron’s casual charm and good looks endeared him to audiences, and he joined the show’s cast as a regular until its cancellation in 2005. That same year, Efron turned up as a featured player in teen pop singer Hope Partlow’s video for “Sick Inside,” before landing the lead role in a Disney Channel production that harkened back to such classic teen musicals as “Bye Bye Birdie” and “Grease.”
That film, helmed and choreographed by Kenny (“Dirty Dancing,” 1987) Ortega, turned out to be “High School Musical,” which earned spectacular ratings for the Mickey Mouse network and yielded a triple platinum-selling soundtrack album and a sales record-breaking DVD. The soundtrack also made Efron the first artist ever to debut on the Billboard Hot 100 charts with two singles in the same week. He would eventually have five singles from the soundtrack on the charts, though some of the glamour was blunted when it was revealed that Efron’s vocals had been “sweetened” by combining them with that of actor/singer Andrew Seeley.
The minor controversy did little to dampen the groundswell of popularity building behind Efron, which spread like wildfire when his appearances on the popular Disney Channel TV series “The Suite Life of Zach and Cody” (2005- ) and “NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service” (CBS, 2003- ) aired while “HSM” was screening almost around the clock for Disney. A frantic April 2006 appearance with his “HSM” co-star Ashley Tisdale on MTV’s “TRL” (1998- ) confirmed his runaway popularity with the tween and teen audiences, and since then, Efron’s image has been inescapable on and between the covers of magazines that cater to that demographic.
While riding the “HSM” wave, Efron attempted to parlay his popularity into a Fox TV series entitled “If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home By Now” (2006), which was inspired by the Oakwood apartment complex in Los Angeles which serves as a temporary home for countless aspiring teen actors. The pilot was unfortunately not picked up for the 2006-07 season. But fans did not have to wait long for his next project.
In 2006, it was announced that Efron would be joining the cast of the highly anticipated film version of the popular Broadway musical “Hairspray” (2007). Much of the press was quick to point out that Efron, who was playing the show’s heartthrob, Link Larkin, would be doing all of his own singing (in an pre-emptive strike against any lingering doubts of his abilities). Interestingly enough, Efron seemingly balked on releasing a pop album, unlike his “HSM” co-stars Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, and Corbin Bleu, all of whom inked contracts with major labels for their own CDs.