Here's How Tall Zac Efron Really Is
While Zac Efron may have achieved teen heartthrob status in "High School Musical," he was acting way before landing his breakthrough role in the Disney Channel original movie. Debuting on screen as a young Simon Tam in the space western drama "Firefly" (via IMDb), Efron would go on to appear in episodes of major shows like "ER," "CSI: Miami," and "NCIS" prior to being known as Troy Bolton.
For a time, Efron did star alongside Jesse McCartney, Kay Panabaker, and Lori Loughlin in The WB drama "Summerland" (via US Weekly), but it was his time on Disney Channel that cemented his future stardom. As highlighted by ScreenRant, Efron took the plunge and changed his image drastically in 2014 by starring in R-rated films like "Neighbours" and "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates" before trying his hand at playing serial killer Ted Bundy in "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile" in 2019.
Throughout all these changes, Efron has remained one of the most popular actors among millennial and Gen Z audiences. Many of his fans will already know obscure facts about the star including his height, which is surprisingly not as tall as you might think.
Zac Efron is deceivingly tall onscreen
Despite many fans initially thinking the actor is quite tall, looks can be deceiving. According to Celeb Heights, Zac Efron is actually 5 foot 8 inches. Obviously, that's still quite tall, but compared to the likes of The Rock and John Travolta — both of whom the actor has worked with — he's deceivingly shorter. But as noted by The Things, the actor is around the same height as the likes of Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, and even Kayne West.
But when it came to his starring role opposite The Rock in "Baywatch," many fans were confused as to how Efron looked so tall next to the 6 foot 5 inch actor. Both in promotional images (via Instagram) and the trailer (via YouTube), camera angles were at play to make Efron look taller than he actually is. While Efron does stand closer to the camera in these instances, The Things references a comment from a Redditor that Efron "has the body proportions" of someone taller compared to The Rock, providing a strange but feasible illusion that Efron is just a few inches shorter than Dwayne Johnson rather than around 9 inches shorter.