Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens’ Relationship Timeline: From ‘High School Musical’ Costars to Real-Life Lovers

15.12.2022 - 07:07 / usmagazine.com

Soaring, flying! Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens met while auditioning for their roles in High School Musical — and sparks flew between the actors from the very start.

“For all of the partner things, me and Vanessa always got paired up,” Efron revealed during a July 2007 interview with Disney, recalling his audition opposite Hudgens. “I was like, ‘They’re not trying us with other people.’ For some reason, we kept sticking around [for callbacks]. I don’t know what it was with Vanessa, but we kind of clicked from the very beginning.”

That chemistry ultimately landed Efron and Hudgens as the lead roles in the Disney Channel film — Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez, respectively — who meet at a holiday karaoke party and later fall in love while portraying leads in their school’s musical. The movie, which premiered in January 2006, went on to spawn two sequels, a tour and a next-generation TV series, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, which debuted on Disney+ in November 2019.

During an April 2019 appearance on the “Always Chatter” podcast, Hudgens echoed the Baywatch star’s sentiment about their easy rapport. “We created a bond right from the start,” she recalled. “We were like, ‘We’re doing this, it’s us or nothing.’”

The duo’s onscreen dynamic carried into their real-life relationship and they quickly fell in love on set. By the time the movie premiered in 2006, the twosome had become teen royalty, with fans referring to them as “Zanessa.”

In June 2008, the Rent: Live star opened up to CosmoGirl about her secret to a great relationship.

“If you really love someone, you shouldn’t have to work at it. You finish each others’ sentences and have the same sense of humor,” she shared. During the sit-down, Hudgens and Efron were