Career
In early 2006, Hudgens's breakout role has been playing the fictional character Gabriella Montez in the Disney Channel movie series High School Musical. With this performance, Hudgens and co-star Zac Efron won the 2006 "Best Chemistry" award at the Teen Choice Awards for their roles. In the movie, she contributed five songs in the soundtrack. Hudgens established a music career under Hollywood Records, citing Celine Dion and Alicia Keys as her major musical influences. On September 2006, the release of her debut album entitled V, charted on the Billboard 200 at number twenty-four on the chart, with 34,000 copies sold that week, with "Come Back to Me" the first single, and the follow-up was "Say OK". V was certified Gold on February 27, 2007 and Billboard readers chose it as the seventh best album of the year. Hudgens was named Female Breakout Singer of the year at the 2007 Teen Choice Awards.She is also ambassador to Neutrogena products.
As promotion for the album, she was the opening act for The Cheetah Girls during their The Party's Just Begun Tour. Later on, she participated in the nationwide High School Musical: The Concert tour in fall 2006, performing the songs from the soundtrack album as well as the three songs from her debut album. She sang the duet "Still There For Me" with Corbin Bleu for his debut album. Hudgens also appeared on the High School Musical 2 soundtrack. In December 2007, she sang to the president, in the White House with other singers.
Her sophomore album, Identified, was released on July 1, 2008, selling more than 22,000 copies during the first week, debuting at #23 on the Billboard 200. At the same time, she went on the Identified Summer Tour to promote her albums in the U.S. and Mexico. She also performed at the 81st Academy Awards in a musical number with other young actors and singers.
Hudgens reprised her role as Gabriella in 2008's High School Musical 3: Senior Year and appeared on the movie's soundtrack. But, she remarked that she won't be doing any musicals after that, as she stated that she wants to accomplish an acting career. On January 11, 2008, it was announced that Hudgens would star in the comedy, Bandslam. Hudgens played 15-year-old Sa5m, an awkward outsider; the film was theatrically released on August 14, 2009. Although Bandslam was commercially unsuccessful, Hudgens' performance received multiple praises from critics. David Waddington noted that Hudgens "outshines the rest of the cast, failing to fit in with the outcast narrative and making the inevitable climactic ending all the more expected." In the film, Philip French of The Guardian remarked that her acting was compared to Thandie Newton and Dorothy Parker.
She will play Linda in the film adaptation of Beastly, which is scheduled for a 2010 release. In landing the role of Linda, the film's director, Daniel Barnz remarked that she was fit for the role and the producers were glad that she got cast. Hudgens' upcoming projects include roles in Sucker Punch, which will release in 2011; she plays the role of Blondie.
Credit Wikipedia