Photo: Getty Images
Vanessa Hudgens opened up about the "chemistry" between herself and ex Zac Efron while filming High School Musical when they were teenagers.
During a recent podcast interview, the Princess Switch actress, 36, shared some backstory into her audition for the beloved 2006 Disney Channel movie, per E! News. The pair, who starred in the franchise as Gabriella Montez and Troy Bolton, went on to date from 2005 to 2010.
"[At the final callback] There was one other girl there for Gabriella, one other guy there for Troy. We swapped, mixed and matched and yeah, that was it," she said, adding that she was "very excited" to land the role given her love of musicals. "Coming from a musical theater background, that was and still is where my heart remains."
Hudgens also admitted that was where Efron caught her eye.
"Of course I was a child and paired with this boy and I was like, 'Oh my god, he's so cute.' The chemistry was so real," she said, adding that the way she glanced at her costar while they sang karaoke during the movie's opening scene were also "so real."
The Tick Tick... Boom! actress noted how the chemistry they shared both on screen and behind the scenes added to the performance, "especially when you're young and it's all sweet and innocent."
"It's so funny looking back, I was so innocent but I was also playing so innocent, so it was like the hat on the hat. Like, wow, she's really pure," she said. "That totally was who I was, but the little rebellious teen side of me was like, 'No, this isn't me!'"
Hudgens has found a new love in husband Cole Tucker. The couple tied the knot in December 2023 and welcomed their first child, a son whose name has not been shared publicly, in July 2024. They are also getting ready for "round two" after the "Sneakernight" singer announced in August that they are currently expecting their second child.