Professional Life: After appearing in all three High School Musical films, Hudgens went on to appear in films such as Bandslam, Beastly, Sucker Punch, Spring Breakers, Machete Kills, The Second Act, and Bad Boys for Life.
“High School Musical was a great journey, but it took my career completely outside of where I originally thought it would go,” she said in an interview with the Guardian in August 2018. “I always wanted to be an indie girl. I wanted to be in movies where I played drug addicts and strippers and prostitutes. That’s been my goal since I was 11 years old.”
In 2015, she made her Broadway debut in the revival of the musical Gigi. The following year, she returned to her musical roots, playing Lizzo on Fox’s Grease Live! And in 2019, Hudgens participated in a live staging of Fox’s Rent. Additionally, she starred in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s film adaptation of Rent creator Jonathan Larson’s autobiographical musical Tick, Tick…Boom! In 2024, the star also won the Masked Singer Award.
In addition to acting and singing, Hudgens is also the founder of the brands “Caliwater” and “Know Beauty.”
Personal life: In 2011, a year after Hudgens and Efron broke up, she started dating actor Austin Butler. The two broke up in early 2020. In December 2023, Hudgens married MLB star Cole Tucker after three years of dating. Three months later, Hudgens announced her pregnancy by showing off her baby bump on the 2024 Oscars red carpet. That summer, she and her husband had a baby.
