'HSM' Graduates Plot Their Project-Filled Futures
What will Zac, Vanessa, Ashley and Corbin do now that "HSM" is over?
Nov. 5, 2008 — -- Hit movie "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" bids farewell to Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay, Ryan, Chad and Taylor, but the actors are hoping to graduate to other exciting projects. Here's who's doing what:
Zac Efron (Troy)
Film
•"Footloose:" Efron just landed the role that made Kevin Bacon famous: Ren McCormack in the Footloose remake. "It's great," Efron told MTV News after getting Bacon's blessing. "I couldn't be more excited. He's the man."
•"17 Again:" Efron plays a younger version of Matthew Perry, whose character magically becomes young again. "Matthew gave me a lot of different advice," Efron tells USA TODAY. "When I heard I had the privilege of playing the younger version of him, I was flattered." (Opens April 17.)
•"Me and Orson Welles:" Efron plays a teen directed by Welles. "My character is just wandering down the street one day in New York in the '30s, and he happens upon a theater where Orson Welles picks him out of a crowd to be directed in a production of Julius Caesar." (No date set.)
Music
No current plans. "I always wonder what I could contribute to music other than just more pop," he says. "If there comes a day when I could write 15 good songs on my own, I would perhaps put out an album. But I'm not skilled at any instruments, so I doubt that day's ever going to come."
Vanessa Hudgens (Gabriella)
Film
She sings a song in "Bandslam," a battle-of-the-bands family movie co-starring Lisa Kudrow, due July 31. "It's a different kind of movie for me," says Hudgens. "It's about music as well, but it's edgier. My character is very dry, dark and doesn't really have any friends."
Music
Second album "Identify" came out July 1. "You hear me sing in ways you've never heard -- more soulful and funky." Her favorite single: "Identified." Hudgens performed selectionsfrom her album on her August summer tour of state fair shows across America, including a few dates with "HSM" co-star Corbin Bleu.
Ashley Tisdale (Sharpay)
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