Pattinson was born in London. His mother, Clare, worked for a modelling agency, and his father, Richard, imported vintage cars from the U.S.[12] Pattinson has two elder sisters, singer Lizzy Pattinson, and Victoria Pattinson.[13][14] Growing up in the Barnes suburb of London,[15] he attended Tower House School until he was 12, and then The Harrodian School.[16][17] He became involved in amateur theatre at the Barnes Theatre Company. He auditioned and was cast in a small role in Guys and Dolls. He next auditioned for Thornton Wilder's Our Town and was cast as George Gibbs. He also played in Anything Goes and Macbeth.[18] He caught the attention of an acting agent in a production of Tess of the d'Urbervilles and began looking for professional roles.
Career
Modelling
Pattinson began modelling when he was twelve years old, but the number of jobs began to decrease only four years later. In December 2008 he blamed the lack of work as a model on his masculine appearance: "When I first started I was quite tall and looked like a girl, so I got lots of jobs, because it was during that period where the androgynous look was cool. Then, I guess, I became too much of a guy, so I never got any more jobs. I had the most unsuccessful modelling career."[19] Pattinson appeared in the advertising campaign for Hackett's autumn 2007 collection.[20]
Pattinson plays guitar and piano, and composes his own music.[36] He also appears as the singer of two songs on the Twilight soundtrack: "Never Think", which he co-wrote with Sam Bradley,[37] and "Let Me Sign", which was written by Marcus Foster and Bobby Long.[38] The songs were included in the film after director Catherine Hardwicke added Pattinson's recordings into an early cut without his knowledge, and he agreed that "one of them specifically, it really made the scene better. It was like it was supposed to be there."[5] The soundtrack for the film How to Be features three original songs performed by Pattinson[39] and written by composer Joe Hastings.[40]
Aside from recording for the soundtracks, Pattinson has said, "I've never really recorded anything – I just played in pubs and stuff", and when asked about a professional music career, he said, "Music is my back-up plan if acting fails."[5] In 2010, Pattinson was awarded the 'Hollywood's Most Influential Top Unexpected Musicians' award.
Pattinson was named one of the "Sexiest Men Alive" in 2008 and 2009 by People magazine.[41][42] In 2009, he was also named the "Sexiest Man Alive" by Glamour.[43]Ask Men named Pattinson as one of the top 49 most influential men of 2009.[44] In 2009, Vanity Fair named Pattinson "the most handsome man in the world" along with Angelina Jolie as the most beautiful woman in the world.[45]
He was named one of Vanity Fair's "Top Hollywood Earners of 2009" with estimated earnings of $18 million in 2009.[9][46]
In December 2009, Pattinson autographed a guitar to be auctioned off for charity.[47] He also volunteered for the Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief in January 2010.[48] GQ and Glamour both named him the "Best Dressed Man" of 2010, with GQ stating, "Extremely elegant and inspiring, the true essence of a contemporary man."[49][50] In 2010, People also listed Pattinson in their "World's Most Beautiful" issue.[51]
In 2010, Britain's The Sunday Times "Rich List" put him on its "list of young millionaires" in the UK, worth £13 million.[52]Time magazine named him as one of 2010's 100 Most Influential People in The World.[10] In June 2010, Pattinson was named by Forbes magazine the No.50 most powerful celebrity in the world with earnings $17 million.[11] Due to Pattinson's rising fame, a wax statue of him was added to the Madame Tussauds collection in London and New York City.[53] On 14 November 2010, Pattinson received two BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards, Best Dressed and Best Actor.[54]
In 2011, Pattinson was No. 15 on Vanity Fair's "Hollywood Top 40" with earnings of $27.5 million in 2010.[55]
Efron was born in San Luis Obispo, California,[4] and later moved to Arroyo Grande, California. His father, David Efron, is an electrical engineer at a power station, and his mother, Starla Baskett, is a former secretary who worked at the same power plant.[5][6] Efron has a younger brother, Dylan, and had, as he described it, a "normal childhood" in a middle class family.[1] He is an agnostic, having never been religious.[3] His surname, "Efron", means "lark" in Hebrew (his paternal grandfather was Jewish).[7][8][9]
Efron has said that he would "flip out" if he got a "B" and not an "A" in school, and has also described himself as having been a class clown.[10] His father encouraged him to begin acting when he was 11 years old.[5] Efron subsequently appeared in theater productions at his high school,[11] worked in the theater The Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville,[1] and began taking singing lessons.[5] He performed in shows such as Gypsy; Peter Pan; or, The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up; Little Shop of Horrors; and The Music Man. He was recommended to an agent in Los Angeles by his drama teacher, Robyn Metchik (the mother of actors Aaron Michael Metchik and Asher Metchik).[12][13] Efron was later signed to the Creative Artists Agency.[14]
In 2002, Efron began to appear in guest roles on several television series, including Firefly, ER, and The Guardian. He portrayed Cameron Bale on the now-cancelled WB series Summerland. Originally introduced as a recurring character, Efron became a regular cast member on the show in the second season in 2004, starring opposite the likes of Kay Panabaker, Lori Loughlin and Jesse McCartney. Since appearing in Summerland, he has also had guest roles on the shows CSI: Miami, NCIS, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and The Replacements. In 2003, Efron starred in the Lifetime original television movie Miracle Run. He played Steven Morgan, one of two autistic twins. For his performance, he was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Movie, Mini-series or Special — Supporting Young Actor.[17] In 2005, he played a main character in Hope Partlow's music video for her song "Sick Inside." Also in 2005, he played horse-loving Patrick McCardle in The Derby Stallion, where his character wants to beat the town bully at the steeple chase race.
Breakthrough
Efron at the 2007 Australia Kids Choice Awards
In 2006, Efron starred in the Disney Channel original movie High School Musical as Troy Bolton, a popular student and captain of the basketball team. The film, which he initially made with "low expectations",[1] helped Efron gain recognition among teenage audiences as both an actor and a singer, even though his singing voice was overdubbed. As a result, he placed as high as #4 on the IMDBPro's STARMeter for the week of January 29, 2006.[18] In August 2006, Efron won a Teen Choice Award in the Breakout Star and the TV — Choice Chemistry categories, shared with Vanessa Hudgens. The film's cast, along with Efron, toured Sydney, Australia, London, England, and other locations to promote the film.
Shortly after High School Musical aired, on February 4, 2006, Efron debuted with two simultaneous charted songs on Billboard Hot 100 from the film: "Get'cha Head in the Game" and "Breaking Free", a duet with Hudgens. On the following week's chart, Efron had five simultaneous song credits from High School Musical: "Get'cha Head in the Game", "Start of Something New", "What I've Been Looking For: Reprise", "We're All in This Together" and "Breaking Free." "We're All in This Together" was credited to the whole High School Musical cast. "Breaking Free", at the time, made the fastest climb in the history of the Billboard charts, from #86 to #4 between the two weeks; the record was beaten by Beyoncé and Shakira's "Beautiful Liar".[19] Efron also appeared in the 2006 Disney Channel Games as captain of the Red Team.
Efron's singing talents were disputed when it was revealed that Drew Seeley's voice was blended with his on the soundtrack of High School Musical.[20] An August 23, 2007 interview in Rolling Stone magazine revealed that he had been cast in High School Musical after the songs were written, and the songs (written for a tenor) were somewhat out of his baritone vocal range.
2007 – present
On April 7, 2007, Efron appeared in an episode of Punk'd. Efron also starred in the music video for Vanessa Hudgens's single "Say OK", in which he played her love interest. The video aired on March 16, 2007 on the Disney Channel. That year, he was named one of People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People in 2007. A picture and short profile of him was in the section "Coming of Age". In it, he related how he was always the shortest kid in school (as of August 2007, he was 5'8")[6] and was teased for the "huge gap" in his teeth.[21]
In 2006, Efron was cast as Link Larkin in a film version of Hairspray released on July 20, 2007. Efron performed all of his own vocals in the role,[22] which was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, from September 5 to December 2, 2006. He cut and dyed his hair dark brown and gained about 15 pounds for the role.[23] His performance and the film received positive reviews.[12] Efron was not able to perform with his fellow castmates in High School Musical: The Concert because of commitments on the film Hairspray. Drew Seeley took over for him.
High School Musical 2 was released in August 2007. Additionally, Lycos reported searches for Efron surged by 81%.[24] The film set a new record, becoming the most watched basic cable program in U.S. history, with 17.2 million viewers.[25] Efron also appeared on the cover of the August 2007 edition of Rolling Stone.[3] The article about him revealed that he hoped to someday play an action hero. Efron presented the 2007 Teen Choice Award for "Favorite Movie" along with Queen Latifah, and later that year, he co-hosted the Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards with The Veronicas on October 10 in Sydney.[26]
In early 2008, Efron was cast in the lead role in the film Me and Orson Welles. Based on Robert Kaplow's novel of the same name,[27] the story, set in 1937 New York, tells of a teenager hired to star in Orson Welles' production of Julius Caesar, where he becomes attracted to a career-driven production assistant. The film was shot in the Isle of Man, London and New York, during February — April 2008. It was introduced to North America via the Toronto Film Festival on September 5, 6, and 11, 2008[28] and was released in 2009. Efron was also scheduled to star in Paramount's musical remake of the film Footloose,[29] and has said that he would like to add his "own little bit of flair" to the role originated by Kevin Bacon.[6] In March 2009, he dropped out of the film.[30] Efron was quoted as saying that while it was a promising gig, he left the project because he "was looking for a new challenge, and this was another musical."[31]
Efron reprised his role in High School Musical 3: Senior Year, which was theatrically released on October 24, 2008. His next role was in 2009's 17 Again, a high school-set comedy-drama produced by Adam Shankman and based on a pitch by Jason Filardi;[32] the plot involved an adult who is transformed into a 17-year old (played by Efron).[33]
On April 8, 2009, Efron's participation in a comedic short video entitled "Zac Efron's Pool Party" for the website Funny Or Die was released for public viewing.[34] On April 11, 2009, Efron hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live.[35] In early June 2009 it was confirmed that Efron would be making a guest appearance during the sixth season of HBO's comedy series Entourage.[36]
Efron starred in a series of advertisements, along with Kristen Bell and Sean Combs, promoting the 2010 MTV Movie Awards and the host, Aziz Ansari. In 2009, he signed on to play title character in the movie Charlie St. Cloud.[37] The film was released on July 30, 2010.
Efron was second on People's 2011 Most Beautiful list.[38]
Upcoming roles
Efron is slated to star in the title role of the live-action adaptation of the Jonny Quest cartoons.[39] Additional projects include Einstein Theory[40] and an adaptation of Fire, by Image Comics. On February 11, 2011, it was reported that Efron will star in the action romance Charlie Countryman.[41][42] He is also set to star in and produce the American remake of Swedish crime film Easy Money.[43][44]
Personal life
Efron in June 2010
Efron owns an apartment in Los Angeles, California. On January 15, 2008, he was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for an emergency appendectomy.[45] Efron was also on the ForbesCelebrity 100 list in 2008, as number 92 with an estimated earning of $5.8 million from June 2007 to June 2008. As of April 5, 2009, his personal wealth equaled about $10 million.[46]People magazine said in 2007 that Efron and Vanessa Hudgens began dating in 2005 during the filming of High School Musical,[47][48][49] although Us magazine said, after the two broke up in December 2010, that they "met in 2005 while making the first High School Musical flick, and became a romantic item about two years later."[50]
