A Complete Look At Vanessa Hudgens Through The Years

Vanessa Hudgens — whether you know her as Gabriella from "High School Musical," Stacy/Margaret/Fiona from "The Princess Switch" trilogy, or from one of her onstage roles, the actress has become one of the most recognizable faces in millennial and Gen Z pop culture. After getting her start in Disney's "High School Musical" franchise, she went on to appear in a few grittier roles before leaving the screen behind for a stint on the stage, appearing as the titular character in a remount of "Gigi."

Since then, Hudgens has not slowed down for a moment. From acting to producing to brand collaborations, she seems to be doing it all. And let's not forget that she always finds time to fit in a rave or two. Curious to learn more about how this actress managed to bypass the child actor curse and go on to have such a remarkable career after her Disney days? Here is the stunning transformation of Vanessa Hudgens.

As a young girl, Vanessa Hudgens quickly became passionate about performing. In fact, as she told Marie Claire, by the age of 3, her parents had already put her in acting classes. Soon, she found that she loved musical theater. "I started doing performances when I was younger than [6], so being on stage is something that feels like home for me," she once said in an interview. According to BroadwayWorld, she had her professional theater debut when she was just 8 and performed in shows like "Evita," "Carousel," "The Wizard of Oz," "The King & I," "The Music Man," "Cinderella" and "Damn Yankees."

As a child actor, Hudgens wasn't the star — she was simply part of the chorus. And she loved every minute of it. "I grew up being the girl in the sidelines, singing the harmonies," Hudgens told Shape. "That was my musical theater upbringing. Some of my fondest memories are of being in the rehearsal studio, practicing."

Vanessa Hudgens landed her first major screen role at the age of 13 in the aptly titled movie "Thirteen" alongside Evan Rachel Wood, Holly Hunter and Nikki Reed. For Hudgens, there was a bit of a learning curve when it came to understanding what was expected of her on set. "I was very much about, I guess, going against the grain," she revealed on "Collider Ladies Night" podcast. "You know, I wanted to be cooler than I was and I wanted to have my own sense of style and I'd show up to set wearing makeup on and I did my hair and had a cute little fit on. And [director] Katherine Hardwick saw me and she was like, 'Oh, we gotta take that all off,' and I was just like, 'But I feel cute.'"

Hudgens also had to adjust to the disappointments that can come with making a movie. "I remember meeting Holly Hunter for the first time on set and [thinking], 'This is actually happening. I'm working with amazing actors and this is what I've always wanted,'" she told Glamour. But then, one of her scenes with Hunter was cut from the final movie. "I was so bummed, but it's something that I had to learn because that's just the business. It happens."

After her girl-next-door role "High School Musical," Vanessa Hudgens became known as one of Hollywood's golden girls. But for Hudgens, this wasn't exactly the direction she had hoped to go in. "It completely derailed me from where I originally saw my career going," she revealed to The Guardian in 2018. "I always wanted to be the indie girl; I always wanted to be in the movies where I'm playing a drug addict or a stripper or a prostitute. That was my goal since I was like, 11." 

So, after her days as Gabriella came to an end, she made an effort to break out of squeaky-clean roles. However, she told Collider, "['High School Musical'] made it a lot harder for me to go after the things that I really wanted, which was still those really gritty, tough, dramatic roles and I learned how to say no very quickly and be really selective about what I was going to do next." She turned down roles that were too sweet or too nice.

Eventually, she got the darker roles she had been looking for (via Wonderland). These roles included playing the rocker Sa5m in "Bandslam" and the party girl Candy in the 2012 film "Spring Breakers" alongside Selena Gomez and Ashley Benson. "I feel like 'Spring Breakers' definitely hit the nail on the head, because obviously it is those things that I love. It's dark and it's weird and it's a wild ride," she told Collider.

In addition to seeking out gritty screen roles, Vanessa Hudgens also wanted to get back to the stage after her stint as Gabriella in "High School Musical." In 2010, she played Mimi in a production of "Rent" at the Hollywood Bowl. In 2015, she made her Broadway debut as the titular character in the musical "Gigi." In 2016, she starred as Rizzo in "Grease: Live," a production of the musical that was filmed and televised live for Fox.

As Hudgens told Wonderland, "I feel the most fulfilled when I get to tell a story on a stage. I just love the format of musical theatre — that's where I grew up, where I found my own footsteps — and it feels like the most organic thing for me to express myself with." 

According to Heidi Thomas, who adapted "Gigi" for the stage, Hudgens couldn't have been more at home in the world of the theater. "That girl has an aura about her only a real star has, but she's actually very sweet and humble," she told Entertainment Weekly. "She sits on the floor with the ensemble, changes her shoes, her tights, everything. I think she is a worthy successor to Audrey Hepburn and Leslie Caron in this role."

While Vanessa Hudgens may be a bit of a workaholic (she always seems to have a project going on, after all), she also knows how to let loose and party. In fact, partying seems to be pretty important to the actress. 

In one interview with Nylon in 2022, Hudgens explained how she was throwing a party for a friend — and how the atmosphere would have to be perfect. "There's nothing that infuriates me more than when I'm ready to throw down, and then I show up somewhere and it's just not the vibe," she said. "If it was up to me, every club would be an underground rave with lasers and smoke machines and just vibes and it's dark and you can't really see anyone." 

Additionally, she told Cosmopolitan that she hates clubs in Los Angeles — they get the vibe all wrong. " I actually despise [them] — I love a good rave. I'm like, take me to New York or Berlin and put me underground in a warehouse with lasers and smoke machines and I'll be living my best life. That's something that makes me who I am and allows my soul to flourish."

Life as a Hollywood star hasn't always been easy for Vanessa Hudgens. As a professional child actor, she had little time to discover who she was when she was young. By the time she reached her late 20s, she realized she barely knew herself. "I woke up at 27 like, 'I have no idea who I am, what I want, or what I stand for,'" she told Nylon. She began therapy and started to ask herself some profound questions. "I realized how much of myself I gave away to others, when I actually was giving away and turning off pieces of myself," she said. "When you get older, the sexier boundaries are."

Since then, Hudgens has focused on being real with herself first and foremost. "Over the past couple of years, I've really come into my own," Hudgens told Shape when she was 32. "When you're fully accepting of who you are, and you stop trying to suppress pieces of yourself, you can conquer the world." She went on to explain that she now loves aspects of her personality, like her sense of humor.