50 Fun Facts About Zac Efron

Which singer provided most of Troy Bolton's vocals in High School Musical instead of Zac Efron?

Drew Seeley sang the bulk of the part because Troy had been written for a tenor and Efron is a baritone. Efron did all his own singing in the musicals he made afterwards.

Which killer did Zac Efron play in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, a title taken from a judge's words?

Ted Bundy proved so hard to shake that Efron took up transcendental meditation, practicing on the ride home from set to leave the role behind.

Which High School Musical co-star did Zac Efron date from 2005 to 2010 after they met on set?

Vanessa Hudgens played Gabriella, the brainy new girl Troy falls for, and the real-life romance outlasted the film trilogy by two years.

In 17 Again, Zac Efron plays the teenage version of a man played as an adult by which Friends star?

Matthew Perry is Mike O'Donnell at 37, who wishes for a do-over and is transformed after meeting a mysterious janitor on a bridge.

Who played the trapeze artist loved by Zac Efron's Phillip in The Greatest Showman?

Zendaya's Anne watches Phillip drop her hand the moment his parents spot them together, the snub that sets up the pair's mid-air love duet.

Which actor played Zac Efron's grandfather, an Army veteran bound for spring break, in Dirty Grandpa?

Robert De Niro landed the part after Jeff Bridges and Michael Douglas were considered, and the critically savaged comedy still turned a profit.

Zac Efron said the diuretics he took to get lean for which film left him with insomnia and depression?

Baywatch cast Efron as an Olympic champion swimmer, and the long run of water pills he took to look the part caught up with him. He first spoke about it five years later.

In Neighbors, Zac Efron's frat president feuds with the new father next door, played by which comedian?

Seth Rogen's Mac promises to bring noise complaints to Teddy first, then calls the police anyway, and that broken promise starts the feud.

Zac Efron's Marine tracks down a woman from a photograph in The Lucky One, based on whose novel?

Nicholas Sparks built the story on a photo found in Iraq, which Efron's Logan carries as a good-luck charm before setting out to find the stranger in it.

Which award did Zac Efron win for hosting Down to Earth, his Netflix series about sustainable living?

A Daytime Emmy went to Efron in 2021 for a series that took him from Iceland's renewable energy projects to Sardinia in search of greener ways to live.

Zac Efron's Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is based on real brothers who sought dates on which website?

Craigslist carried the real Stangle brothers' ad for dates to a cousin's wedding, which made the news. The film moves the wedding to Hawaii and makes the bride their sister.

Zac Efron said a fall at home in 2013 nearly killed him and badly injured which part of his body?

His jaw had to be wired shut after the fall. Efron later said the injury explained the swollen face that went viral in a 2021 Earth Day video.

Zac Efron was cast as Ren McCormack in a remake of which 1980s dance film before quitting in 2009?

Footloose went ahead without him: Efron left in March 2009, his replacement Chace Crawford pulled out too, and dancer Kenny Wormald ended up with the role.

Filming which musical with John Travolta kept Zac Efron off the High School Musical concert tour?

Hairspray was shooting while his castmates toured arenas, so a stand-in sang Troy's songs on stage. Its director first thought Efron too Disney for the part of Link Larkin.

In The Greatest Beer Run Ever, Zac Efron's character carries beer to friends serving in which country?

Vietnam is where the real Chickie Donohue sneaked into a war zone to hand beers to his neighborhood friends, a trip he later turned into the book behind the film.

Zac Efron plays the telepathic father of a fire-starting girl in a horror remake of whose novel?

Stephen King's Firestarter had already been filmed in 1984. In the remake both parents gain their powers in an experimental drug trial, and their daughter is born able to start fires.

Which wrestler turned actor plays the man Zac Efron's Dean hires to pose as Ricky Stanicky?

John Cena's Rod is a New Jersey parody singer and jobbing actor, paid to bring to life the alibi Efron's Dean and his friends invented as children.

Which pop star voiced Audrey, the girl Zac Efron's Ted wants to impress with a real tree, in The Lorax?

Taylor Swift's Audrey longs to see a living tree in a walled city where all the vegetation is artificial, and that wish sends Ted off on his quest.

Which character did Zac Efron voice in Scoob!, taking over from an actor in the role since 1969?

Fred Jones had been voiced by Frank Welker in most versions since 1969, so Efron's casting was a rare break. Welker stayed in the film as Scooby.

The Iron Claw stars Zac Efron as Kevin, a son in which real Texas wrestling family said to be cursed?

The Von Erichs were really the Adkissons. In the film Kevin says the family curse began when his father Fritz swapped that name for his own mother's surname.

Zac Efron grew up in which California town, graduating from its high school in 2006?

Arroyo Grande is where a teacher's recommendation changed everything: his drama teacher, Robyn Metchik, put him forward to a Los Angeles agent.

Zac Efron was accepted by which Los Angeles college after high school in 2006 but never enrolled?

University of Southern California accepted him the same year High School Musical premiered, and with a film career suddenly under way he never took up the place.

Zac Efron's father, an electrical engineer, and his mother both worked at which kind of facility?

A nuclear plant, Diablo Canyon on the coast of San Luis Obispo County, employed his father David as an engineer and his mother Starla as an administrative assistant.

Zac Efron settled in which country during the pandemic, later filming a whole season of Down to Earth there?

Australia became home after he spent the pandemic around Byron Bay and sold his Los Angeles house in 2021. Down to Earth's second season was filmed entirely there.

Which Hollywood honor did Zac Efron receive in 2023, the same year he starred in The Iron Claw?

A Walk of Fame star was unveiled for Efron in 2023, 17 years after a Disney Channel film turned the California teenager into a household name.

Troy Bolton, Zac Efron's High School Musical character, captains which East High basketball team?

Wildcats star Troy plays for his own father, the team's coach, and his teammates are shocked when the callback list reveals he has auditioned for the musical.

Which solo does Zac Efron's Troy sing while storming across a golf course in High School Musical 2?

Bet on It is Troy's vow to put things right after his friends turn on him at the Lava Springs country club, and it became a US Hot 100 hit for Efron.

Which solo, written new for a 2007 movie musical, does Zac Efron sing as teen idol Link Larkin?

Ladies' Choice replaced a vintage group dance called the Madison from the stage show, giving Efron's character a number of his own.

Zac Efron duets on The Other Side in The Greatest Showman with which actor, who plays P. T. Barnum?

Hugh Jackman's Barnum uses the number to recruit Efron's playwright Phillip Carlyle to help drum up publicity. Phillip ends up a full partner in the circus.

A Family Affair reunited Zac Efron with which Oscar winner, his co-star in The Paperboy?

Nicole Kidman played a woman engaged to a death-row inmate in the first film. In the second she is a widowed author who falls for the movie-star boss of her own daughter.

One of Zac Efron's earliest TV roles was a young Simon Tam in which short-lived space western?

Firefly cast him in 2002 as the boyhood version of the ship's doctor, four years before a Disney Channel musical made him famous.

Zac Efron played Cameron Bale in which WB family drama, joining the main cast for its second season?

Summerland promoted Efron after a recurring first-season part as the boyfriend of teenager Nikki, but the network canceled the show at the end of that second season.

Zac Efron earned a Young Artist nomination for Miracle Run, playing a teenage twin with which condition?

Autism is diagnosed in both boys early in the Lifetime film, and Efron's Steven goes on to become a runner, winning the first race he enters.

In Me and Orson Welles, Zac Efron's teenager lands a part in a 1937 staging of which Shakespeare play?

Julius Caesar was the first production of Welles's new Mercury Theatre company, and Efron's Richard is unexpectedly offered the role of Lucius after a chance meeting with the director.

In Parkland, Zac Efron plays a young surgeon who fights to save which US president after a shooting?

John F. Kennedy is rushed in from the motorcade, and Efron's Dr. Jim Carrico operates and keeps up CPR even after the president's heart monitor flatlines.

Which actor plays the doctor who makes a stay-single pact with Zac Efron in That Awkward Moment?

Michael B. Jordan's Mikey is the reason for the pact: when his wife asks for a divorce, his two friends swear to stay single with him, then each secretly starts a relationship.

In We Are Your Friends, Zac Efron's Cole Carter chases fame in the San Fernando Valley as what?

A DJ on the electronic dance music scene, to be exact: Cole is a 23-year-old college dropout and former track star who dreams of becoming a major record producer.

In The Disaster Artist, Zac Efron plays an actor cast in which film, often called one of the worst ever?

The Room is Tommy Wiseau's 2003 melodrama, and Efron has a small part as Dan Janjigian, the real actor who played the character Chris-R in it.

Which actor starred with Zac Efron in The Paperboy and later played the poet Moondog in The Beach Bum?

Matthew McConaughey played Efron's reporter brother in the first film. In the second, Efron turns up as Flicker, a pyromaniac who escapes rehab with the stoner poet.

Which Pitch Perfect star played Alice, the date of Zac Efron's Dave, in Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates?

Anna Kendrick's Alice is a fired waitress posing as a hedge fund manager, still reeling from being left at the altar, and Dave finds himself falling for her.

Which actor played Kerry, the Olympic discus hopeful and brother of Zac Efron's Kevin, in The Iron Claw?

Jeremy Allen White's Kerry turns to the ring only after the 1980 Olympic boycott ends his discus hopes, then gets his world-title match on a coin flip and wins it.

In New Year's Eve, Zac Efron's courier helps which actress's character finish her resolutions by midnight?

Michelle Pfeiffer's Ingrid quits her job at a record label and pays him in tickets to a masquerade ball. The two actors had already shared a movie musical in 2007.

Who leads the sorority that Zac Efron's Teddy first helps, then fights, in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising?

Chloë Grace Moretz's Shelby gets Teddy as a party-planning mentor because his criminal record has left him unable to find a decent job, until he switches sides.

Zac Efron founded which production company in 2010, later a producer of his comedy That Awkward Moment?

Ninjas Runnin' Wild was set up under Warner Bros., and his brother Dylan, who works there too, said in 2019 that it had started making online video alongside its films.

Zac Efron's younger brother Dylan won which reality competition series in 2025?

The Traitors made Dylan a winner as one of four Faithfuls in 2025. Before that he worked behind the camera as a producer on his sibling's travel series.

Zac Efron plays himself, throwing a secret wrap party, in a 2025 episode of which Hollywood satire series?

The Studio makes Efron the prime suspect when a reel of film goes missing, but the envelope of cash found in his trailer turns out to be paying for custom hats for his crew.

Which choreographer directed Zac Efron in all three High School Musical films?

Kenny Ortega nearly made a fourth film with Efron: he signed on to direct him in a dance-film remake in 2008, but both men walked away from the project.

In At Any Price, Zac Efron plays a would-be race car driver whose farmer father is played by which actor?

Dennis Quaid's Henry is a farmer and seed dealer under investigation for reusing patented seed, while Efron's Dean trains for races to escape the family business.

Zac Efron won which MTV Movie Award for That Awkward Moment, then again the next year for Neighbors?

Best Shirtless Performance went to Efron two years running, in 2014 and 2015. He also shared the Best On-Screen Duo prize with Dave Franco for the second film.

In Charlie St. Cloud, Zac Efron meets his dead brother's ghost each sunset to practice which sport?

Baseball is the promise Charlie made before the crash that killed Sam, and keeping it costs him a sailing scholarship to Stanford and holds his brother's spirit back.