Okay, so they said that they were ‘all in this together’ … but are they really? Since the High
School Musical’s third release way back in 2008, the cast has rarely been seen all together,
if at all. So we were wondering what they’ve all been upto these past few years.
Of course because we can’t leave out a little something extra juicy, we wanted to find out if
they were really all in this together, or was it all for show? The actors seemed to have formed a
tight bond while they were filming, but have their friendships survived the rocky road of hollywood?
And remember to subscribe to Rumor Juice, cause we’re in this together.
See what we did there? (wink wink)
Lucas Grabeel
Now here is something that will surprise you … In a recent interview, the actor admitted
that if he were offered the role of Ryan today, he wouldn’t take it on. Um, WHAT?
During the filming process, Lucas had a discussion with the director of High School Musical,
Kenny Ortega to speak about Ryan's sexuality. According to Grabeel,
Ortega (who himself is a gay man), said that Grabeel’s character wasn't straight. However,
Disney might not be ready for an openly gay character at the time.
"There's so many amazingly talented gay actors that could do it as well, so if 'High School
Musical' was made today, I don't know if I would play Ryan," The 36-year-old actor said.
Ryan was of course Sharpay Evans’ twin brother, so what we’re going to tell you
now might be a hard pill for you to swallow. Lucas and Ashley hated each other on set.
When the two actors got together in 2017 to sing "What I've Been Looking For"
the former co-stars revealed that they didn’t get along at all during the filming process.
"We were not close … We were not good friends, let's be honest." Ashley admitted
Grabeel agreed that they didn’t get off on the best foot, and it took a while for them to form a
friendship, but these days they’re super close and make an effort to keep in touch with each other.
Lucas said that it’s also been tricky maintaining a friendship with his co-star
Zac Efron. He said that Zac is really just a busy guy, so their reunions are few and far between.
“Zac, I don’t see very often because he’s Zac Efron. He’s rarely in town and available,
but I hung out with him a few times in New York when he was shooting The Greatest Showman,”
The actor describes his relationship with Corbin Bleu as ‘best buds’ and he’s often
in touch with Vanessa, making sure to attend her Halloween party every year.
As for now, you might have recognized the actor's voice on shows like "Elena of Avalor" and "Family
Guy." He also starred as Toby Kennish on the drama series "Switched at Birth"
Ashley Tisdale
She was the trade mark mean girl, Sharpay Evans, looking to have everything her way
or the highway. Her character was so intimidating that her fellow
classmates would much rather have things her way because any other way wasn’t worth the stress.
The High School Musical films wasn’t the actress’s first stint with Disney.
She also featured on The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody.
What has the actress gotten upto in the last decade? Well, she said
“I do” to now-husband Christopher French in 2014. While Hollywood romances are not known to last,
Ashley and her beau seem to be the exception to the rule.
"I think that pretty much every night we hang out,
and pretty much on the weekends we’re like, ‘Okay, let’s do a specific night where we’ll do a date.’"
The 35-year old is expecting her first child with her darling husband.
But the actress hasn’t been free of judgement and criticism. While filming the HSM films,
the young actress was open about getting a nose job to correct a deviated septum.
Unfortunately, she was judged harshly and made fun of for her decision.
The actress said that following the procedure, she felt that the media had portrayed her as insecure
and hating her own appearance when that was not the case at all. The actress felt judged,
and made to feel totally ashamed for her decision to be honest with her fans.
"I always wanted to be honest and open about why I did it because I had a young fanbase.
Unfortunately, with the public scrutiny, I felt like that was taken away,"
She’s also started her own makeup line called Illuminate, and released her 3rd studio album!
Unfortunately she had to shut down her makeup company due to lack of popularity,
but that didn’t stop her from pushing on with her singing career. After nearly ten years since the
release of her last album, the actress and singer released Symptoms. She described the album as an
emotionally charged, extremely personal set of songs about her own journey to self-discovery.
“This record is such a personal record for me … it's a piece of
me and I’m excited to share it with the world.”
And what about her relationships with the cast? Well, her and 32-year-old
Vanessa Hudgens are besties. Seriously! They might have been on-screen enemies,
but off screen, the pair were inseparable.
“We are like the ultimate duo. We have a very genuine friendship,
and you don’t see that … It’s rare to work with someone years ago and still
be friends with them. I think it just makes everyone so excited to see us.”
Their friendship is proof that their first movie really was the
start of something new … a brand new friendship that will last a lifetime!
Monique Coleman
She was the token headband girl throughout the High School Musical series, but have you ever
wondered why her character, Taylor McKessie, wore so many headbands? It’s really not what you think.
The actress revealed in an exclusive interview that the iconic headband look was her idea, but
it came up because she had to find a solution for the way the stylists were doing her hair on set.
It seems that the stylists on set were unable to properly work with African American hair,
and as a result had done a poor job of styling the front of the actress’s hair for the films.
"But the truth is, is that they had done my hair and they had done it very poorly in the front.
And we had to start filming before I had a chance to fix
it. I was very lucky because the wardrobe department was very open to our feedback."
So Monique suggested that her character has a thing for headbands in order to
cover up the less than acceptable job they had done with her hair.
"We've grown a lot in this industry and we've grown a lot in representation and we've grown
a lot in terms of understanding the needs of an African American actress," Monique said.
Thankfully, despite the struggles in the hair department, Monique is grateful to have been
part of the HSM films and family. What has she been up to since then?
Monique Coleman landed several TV and film roles, including The Cleveland Show, Bones,
and a recurring role on The Fourth Door. She also followed in the footsteps of her on-screen crush,
Corbin Bleu and performed as a contestant on Season 3 of Dancing with the Stars in 2006,
placing fourth in the competition. Since then the actress has moved onto the world of talk show
hosting with her own show, Gimme Mo and was even nominated for an emmy!
Coleman's activism on- and off-screen shines just as brightly as her Disney days.
The 40-year-old Coleman might even have what it takes to be the President of the United States,
just like Taylor McKessie dreamed to be.
As for her fellow cast mates, Monique has remained friends with Corbin, but don’t
think that they’re more than friends or anything … they’ve been spotted going on double dates with
their own significant others and have featured every now and then on each other’s instagram.
Corbin Bleu
He was Troy Bolton’s best bud, a basketball junkie and of course there was no one resistant
to his cheeky grin. When Troy was getting distracted by Grabriella,
Chad was there to save the day and make sure his friend had his ‘head in the game’.
Chad graduated from highschool with all his best friends … but what happened to Corbin Bleu? What
did he do after he put the film trilogy that made him a Disney star, behind him?
Fans were nervous for a while because it seemed like Corbin was nowhere to be found on screen.
Had he quit acting? Was he done for good? When would they ever see him again?
Calm down, calm down. He’s still around, fans were just looking in the wrong place.
Corbin had traded the life on screen, for a life on the stage. The theatre stage that
is. AND before you think that there’s been no one there to support his career change, think again.
His High-School musical family have come to watch his theatre performances and
have praised him and his success in his new adventure in the world of Broadway.
So despite his adamant statement that he ‘couldn’t dance’ he’s clearly proved us all wrong here when
he competed in the seventh season of Dancing With the Stars, and even came in second place!
He’s also gone one to produced a few TV shows and movies and released two studio albums
of his own! He married his longtime girlfriend, Sasha Clements, in 2016.
Zac Effron and Vanessa Hudgens
There’s no doubt that you know exactly what’s been happening with these two since the HSM
films came to an end. But we didn’t want you to think that we’d just leave them off this list.
Zac is a walking hunk, having moved to Australia and living happily with his
girlfriend, Vanessa Valladares. The couple are reportedly super serious about each
other and it's rumoured that Zac might be popping THAT question sooner than we think.
The other Vanessa, we mean Vanessa Hudgens,
has gotten herself into a bit of trouble early in 2020 after making comments about
the COVID 19 virus that came across as extremely insensitive and out of touch.
After facing immense backlash, Hudgens issued an apology.
The actress admitted that her comments had been "insensitive" and
"not at all appropriate" in a tweet, and said that the response that she got from people was
"a huge wake up call" about the impact her words have on her millions of fans
While the ex-couple have claimed to be on good terms, they have also admitted that
they are no longer in contact with one another and don’t speak at all. Owch!
Well folks, if this video tells you anything, it’s that the cast of High School Musical are truly all
in this together and have formed an unbreakable bond after filming the movies together.
They might not have all taken the same paths in the land of Hollywood,
but they have kept in touch and made an effort to reunite as often as they could. We’re holding
thumbs for a High School Musical, but about their lives after graduation. What do you think?