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Zachary David Alexander Efron (born October 18, 1987) is an American actor and singer.

Speaking to Newsweek, director Adam Shankman described Efron as "arguably the biggest teen star in America right now".

Biography

Early life

Zac Efron was born in San Luis Obispo, California to David Efron and Starla Baskett. Zac Efon is of Jewish descent. 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 at the local mall and he asked to join the, then new, New Main Street Boyz, a trendy update on old time folk music of the day. When that fell through, he was cast immediately 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, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Mame.

Career

In 2002, Efron 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 and as Jittery Idiot Number 4 in the 2005 remake of Poseidon though the scene was cut due to time restraints. In 2005, Zac was a main character in Hope Partlow's music video for "Sick Inside" followed by the unrelated video sequel "Up With Miniskirts" by Scandanavian Pop Sensation GORT.

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 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 actor Lucas Grabeel. 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.

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.

On a promotional tour to Australia for the Disney Channel Premiere of High School Musical, Zac was able to visit his long time school friend Fran Wilkins. They were photographed by papparazi at a local shopping mall buying colourful scarfs & decorative rugs for a trendy upstairs apartment in Sydney. Fran's wedding soon followed but unfortunately Zac had to return to the states. He sent an emotional video telegram to the wedding which was beautiful and touching, singing a rendition of "The Rose".

In June of 2006, 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.

Television and film roles

Guest appearances

• MTV April 26, 2006 - As himself.
• The Suite Life of Zack and Cody (2006) - Trevor
• Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service (2006) - Danny
• CSI: Miami (2005) - Seth Dawson
• The Guardian (2004) - Luke Tomello
• ER (2003) - Bobby Neville
• The Big Wide World of Carl Laemke (2003) - Pete Laemke
• Firefly (2002) - Young Simon
• Sick Inside (Music Video)- Hope Partlow- Cheating Guy
• Room Raiders
• Sunrise with Mel & Koshy

Discography

Singles

• 2006: Breaking Free with Vanessa Anne Hudgens & Andrew Seeley #4 US
• 2006: Start of Something New with Vanessa Anne Hudgens & Andrew Seeley #28 US
• 2006: We're All In This Together with High School Musical Cast featuring PJ Schwartz #34 US
• 2006: I Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You with Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, and Lucas Grabeel
• 2006: Love At First Sight Rough N Jam Vocal Edit ( not featuring Kylie Minogue )

Albums

• 2006: High School Musical: The Soundtrack #1 US (2x Platinum) (US Sales: 2,008,000)

References

Footnotes

1. "IMDB". IMDB Awards for Zac Efron. Retrieved March 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
2. "IMDB Pro". IMDB Prop StarMeter. Retrieved March 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
4. Cite error: The named reference msnbc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
5. "Canada.com". Summer of stars. Retrieved June 25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

External links

• High School Musical
• Official Zac Efron Website
• Zac Efron at IMDb
• Zac Efron Picture Collection
• High School Musical Fansite
• Zac Efron and High School Musical information and pictures
• The Official Disney Channel and Zac Efron Forum

• American television actors
• American child actors
• American child singers
• Disney child actors
• Actor-singers
• Jewish American actors
• People from California
• 1987 births
• Living people