Zac Efron Biography

Zac Efron (born October 18, 1987) is an American actor and singer.

Biography

Zac Efron is most likely known for his appearance in the Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical and Summerland. He will also be starring in the film version of the Broadway musical Hairspray. Speaking to Newsweek, director Adam Shankman described Efron as "arguably the biggest teen star in America right now".

Efron was born in San Luis Obispo, California to David Efron, an electrical engineer, and Starla Baskett, a former secretary. He has a brother, Dylan, and owns two Australian Shepherds named Dreamer and Puppy, as well as a Siamese cat named Simon. At age eleven, his singing talent was discovered and encouraged, and he was cast in the musical Gypsy for 90 performances. He went on to have roles in stage productions of Peter Pan, Little Shop of Horrors, The Music Man, and Mame.

In 2002, Zac began to have guest roles on television series, including Firefly, ER, and The Guardian.

Efron is best known for portraying Cameron Bale on the now-cancelled WB series Summerland. Originally introduced as a guest star, Efron became a regular cast member on the show in the second season in 2004. Since appearing in Summerland, he has also had guest roles on the shows CSI: Miami, NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

In 2003, Zac starred in the Lifetime original TV movie Miracle Run. He played Steven Morgan, one of two autistic twins. Overcoming incredible odds, with his mother's support, he achieved the unimaginable, winning a cross country competition. For his performance, he was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special - Supporting Young Actor.

In 2005, Zac Efron was a main character in Hope Partlow's music video for "Sick Inside"

In 2006, At age 18, Efron starred in the Disney Channel original movie High School Musical as Troy Bolton alongside actresses Vanessa Anne Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale and actors Lucas Grabeel and Corbin Bleu. This role helped Efron gain recognition among teenage audiences as both an actor and a successful singer. Combined with his simultaneous appearances on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and NCIS, Efron placed as high as #4 on the IMDBPro's STARMeter for the week of January 29, 2006. Efron's singing talents were disputed when it was revealed that Andrew Seeley's voice was blended with Efron's voice on the soundtrack of High School Musical. (It was later learned that this occurred since Efron is a baritone singer and occurred usually for the higher notes-the part of Troy was written for a tenor singer)

Zac Efron became the first artist to debut with two charted songs in the same week on the February 4, 2006 Billboard Hot 100, with the songs, Get'cha Head In the Game (feat. Basketball team) and Breaking Free, a duet with Vanessa Anne Hudgens from High School Musical. On the following week, Efron had five simultaneous song credits, all from High School Musical, including, once more, Get'cha Head in the Game, Breaking Free (which made the fastest climb in the history of the Billboard charts, from #86 to #4 between the two weeks), Start of Something New and What I've Been Looking For: Reprise, as well as We're all in this Together, which was credited to the High School Musical cast. Zac is also in the first ever Disney Channel Games as captain of the Red Team. On his team are Kay Panabaker, Anneliese van der Pol, Moises Arias, Dylan Sprouse, and Shin Koyamada.

In June of 2006, Zac Efron was cast as Link Larkin in the upcoming film version of Hairspray, also starring Amanda Bynes, Queen Latifah and John Travolta. Efron will perform all of his own vocals in the film.  Filming will take place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from September 5 to December 8, 2006. Zac has cut and dyed his hair dark brown and will be gaining about 15lbs for the role in Hairspray.

Efron has been accepted to both UCLA and USC and will be attending USC in the Fall of 2007. He is currently single.