Vanessa Hudgens

Biography

Vanessa Anne Hudgens (born December 14, 1988) is an American actress and singer. After making her feature film debut in Thirteen (2003), Hudgens rose to fame portraying Gabriella Montez in the High School Musical film series (2006–2008), which brought her significant mainstream media success. The success of the first film led Hudgens to acquire a recording contract with Hollywood Records, with whom she released two studio albums, V (2006) and Identified (2008). Since the release of her studio albums and the High School Musical franchise, Hudgens has focused on her acting career. She appeared in the films Bandslam (2009), Beastly, Sucker Punch (both 2011), Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Spring Breakers (both 2012), Second Act (2018), Bad Boys for Life (2020), and Tick, Tick...Boom! (2021). She starred in the Netflix Christmas movies The Princess Switch (2018) and its sequels (2020 and 2021) and The Knight Before Christmas (2019), and co-produced the latter three. Hudgens played the role of Emily Locke in the NBC series Powerless (2017). She also played the title role in the Broadway musical Gigi (2015) and had roles in two of Fox's live musical productions: Rizzo in Grease: Live (2016) and Maureen Johnson in Rent: Live (2019). In 2022, Hudgens co-hosted the Met Gala in Manhattan.

Known For

Bad Boys for Life

as Kelly

Sucker Punch

as Blondie

High School Musical

as Gabriella Montez

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

as Kailani Laguatan

Spring Breakers

as Candy

High School Musical 2

as Gabriella Montez

High School Musical 3: Senior Year

as Gabriella Montez

Bad Boys: Ride or Die

as Kelly

Beastly

as Lindy Taylor

Polar

as Camille