Vanessa Hudgens

Vanessa Anne Hudgens was born on December 14, 1988, in Salinas, California, and grew up at various points along the West Coast, from Oregon to Southern California. Her father, Gregory Hudgens, worked as a firefighter and was of predominantly English descent; he died of cancer in February 2016. Her mother, Gina, who is Filipina and grew up in Mindanao, held a series of office jobs. Hudgens has a younger sister, Stella, who is also an actress. All four of her grandparents were musicians. She was raised Catholic and briefly attended Orange County High School of the Arts before continuing her education through homeschooling with tutors.

Hudgens began performing in musical theater as early as 1998, taking part in local productions that included Carousel, The Wizard of Oz, The King and I, The Music Man, and Cinderella. Around 2000, she started auditioning for commercials and television, and her family relocated to Los Angeles following her appearance in a television commercial. Her first credited acting role came in 2002 on the CBS sitcom Still Standing, in which she played a character named Tiffany, followed by an appearance that same year on the CBS series Robbery Homicide Division. Her feature film debut came in 2003 with the drama Thirteen, where she played a supporting role. She subsequently appeared in the 2004 science fiction-adventure film Thunderbirds, portraying a character named Tin-tin.

Hudgens rose to widespread recognition in January 2006 when she was cast as Gabriella Montez in the Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical, starring alongside Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale. The film drew 7.7 million viewers at its US premiere and became Disney Channel's most-watched film of that year up to that point. The duet "Breaking Free," recorded with Efron for the film, reached number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number nine in the UK. Later that year, on September 26, 2006, Hudgens released her debut studio album V through Hollywood Records. The album debuted at number 24 on the Billboard 200, sold 34,000 copies in its first week, and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in February 2007, eventually selling 570,000 copies in the US by August 2009. It was preceded by the singles "Come Back to Me" and "Say OK."

Hudgens reprised the role of Gabriella in High School Musical 2, which premiered on August 17, 2007, drawing over 17.2 million viewers in the US and becoming the most-watched Disney Channel Original Movie of all time at that point. Her second studio album, Identified, followed on July 1, 2008, debuting at number 23 on the Billboard 200 and preceded by the single "Sneakernight," which peaked at number 88 on the Billboard Hot 100. That same year, she returned once more as Gabriella in High School Musical 3: Senior Year, the first theatrical release in the franchise. The film opened at number one at the North American box office in October 2008, earning $42 million in its opening weekend — a record for a musical at the time — and finishing with $252 million worldwide.

Following the conclusion of the High School Musical series, Hudgens shifted her focus to film and television acting. She appeared in the 2009 musical comedy Bandslam, the 2011 films Beastly and Sucker Punch, and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and Spring Breakers, both released in 2012. In August 2010, she starred as Mimi in a production of Rent at the Hollywood Bowl. She played Emily Locke in the NBC series Powerless in 2017, and appeared in Second Act in 2018 and Bad Boys for Life in 2020. She also starred in the Netflix film Tick, Tick...Boom! in 2021. Hudgens headlined several Netflix Christmas films, including The Princess Switch in 2018 and its sequels in 2020 and 2021, as well as The Knight Before Christmas in 2019, co-producing those Christmas productions. In 2022, she co-hosted the Met Gala in Manhattan.

Hudgens made her Broadway debut in 2015, playing the title role in the musical revival of Gigi. She subsequently appeared in two of Fox's live television musical productions, portraying Rizzo in Grease Live! in 2016 and Maureen Johnson in Rent: Live in 2019.