California, but was raised in Arroyo Grande, California. His father is an electrical engineer at a power station and his mother is a secretary there. He decided to get into acting when his parents urged him to do some extracurricular activity."Efron" means "lark" -- a type of bird -- in Hebrew.
rents were Jewish immigrants from Poland. Zac has a dogtag necklace which he is often spotted wearing. It was a gift from his friend and crush, Paula Abdul - it says "Reach for the Stars" on the front and "You might just become one!" on the back. In his spare time, Efron enjoys fixing up cars and has repaired two to date, a Delorean and a '65 Mustang convertible. Both were hand-me-downs from his grandfather.
singing lessons at the age of 11 and he soon landed a role in the production of "Gypsy" which ran for 90 performances. Zac then got roles on stage in "Peter Pan," "Mame," "Little Shop of Horrors" and "The Music Man." His first roles on TV were as guest parts in shows like Firefly, ER and The Guardian.
as offered a record deal by Simon Cowell, but declined, saying, "Acting is my main priority." He was even accepted into the University of Southern California, but deferred his enrollment to continue acting. The actor's first screen role was on the short-lived cult show "Firefly" in 2002. In 2009, Efron voiced several roles on Cartoon Network's "Robot Chicken," a hit show co-created by Seth Green.
isney Channel film called High School Musical. The movie was originally intended to just be a one time thing, but it proved so popular that Disney turned it into a movie franchise. It was this role that earned Zac international fame.
