Vanessa Hudgens

Vanessa Hudgens

Birth Date: December 14, 1988
Birth Place: Salinas, Calif.

As the smart, sugary sweet songbird Gabriella Montez on the Disney Channel megahit High School Musical, Vanessa Hudgens became tweens' favorite girl next door. But her pristine image took on some tarnish in September 2007 when a nude photo of the teen (taken prior to her fame) surfaced on the web.

The notoriety hasn't hurt the California native, who knew she wanted to perform early on and took piano, dance and vocal lessons to get there. At 13, she made her TV debut on an episode of Still Standing before landing the role that would make her a teen idol and introduce her to real-life love, heartthrob Zac Efron. Riding on her HSM fame, Hudgens released her debut album, V, signed on to endorse Neutrogena, reprised her role in the massively successful HSM2, and finally took her relationship with Efron public.