Zac Efron was born on October 18, 1987, in San Luis Obispo, California, to Starla Baskett, a secretary, and David Efron, an electrical engineer. His younger brother is Dylan. The surname "Efron" comes from his Polish Jewish paternal grandfather.
Zac was raised in Arroyo Grande, California. He began acting at the age of eleven after his parents noticed his singing ability. He took singing and acting lessons, which led to an appearance in a production of "Gypsy" that ran 90 performances. He was hooked and went on to appear in various stage productions, including "Peter Pan", "Auntie Mame", "Little Shop of Horrors", and "The Music Man".
He started landing guest parts on television series, including "Firefly", "ER", "CSI: Miami", "NCIS", and "The Guardian". He also starred in several pilots, such as "The Big Wide World of Carl Laemke" and "Triple Play", and played an autistic child in the television film "Miracle Run".
Efron came to fame for starring in the Disney Channel original film "High School Musical" (2006),for which he won the Teen Choice Award for Breakout Star. He returned to the role of Troy Bolton in "High School Musical 2" (2007),which broke cable TV records with 17.5 million viewers.
He had lead roles in the fantasy romance "Charlie St. Cloud" (2010) and the comedy "17 Again" (2009),both from director Burr Steers. He also starred as Link Larkin in the musical "Hairspray" (2007),directed by Adam Shankman.
Efron then starred in Richard Linklater's "Me and Orson Welles" (2008),an adaptation of the novel by Robert Kaplow, which premiered to rave reviews at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. He also led Kenny Ortega's "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" (2008),which set a box office record for the highest grossing opening weekend for a musical.
In 2012, Efron took the lead in "The Lucky One" (2012),a film adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel. He also lent his voice to the animated feature "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" (2012) and co-starred in Lee Daniels' thriller "The Paperboy" (2012),alongside Nicole Kidman, John Cusack, Matthew McConaughey, and Scott Glenn.
Zac Efron's most recent roles include starring with Seth Rogen in the hit comedy film "Neighbors" (2014),headlining the 2015 drama "We Are Your Friends" (2015),carrying three 2016 comedies, "Dirty Grandpa" (2016),"Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising" (2016),and "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates" (2016),and starring opposite Hugh Jackman and Zendaya in the musical drama "The Greatest Showman" (2017).
Zac's 2019 roles include a supporting part in Harmony Korine's "The Beach Bum" (2019),and playing serial killer Ted Bundy in Joe Berlinger's biographical drama "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile" (2019).
