Vanessa Hudgens is Blowin' Up

As the young people these days might say, Vanessa Hudgens is 'Blowin' up.' No, not literally of course, but most definitely in the figurative sense.

The young actress who recently released her first album, has been on a steady climb to stardom for years now and is apparently well on her way to achieving stardom both in front of the screen and behind a microphone.
Here is look at Hudgens' life and career accomplishments.

Hudgens was born in Salinas, California on December14, 1988 and grew up in San Diego and has a younger sister, Stella Hudgens, who is also an actress. Her father, Greg Hudgens, is of Irish and Native American descent and her mother, Gina Guangco, a Filipino of Spanish and Chinese Decent.

Incredibly, all of Hudgens' grandparents were musicians during the big band era and beginning at the age of eight, Hudgens followed in their footsteps performing in the musical theatre as a singer. Hudgens appeared in local productions of Evita, Carousel, The Wizard of Oz, The King and I, The Music Man, Cinderella and Damn Yankees, among others. When Hudgens successfully auditioned for a commercial, her family subsequently moved to Los Angeles to continue pursuing a career in acting.

Hudgens made her feature debut in Thirteen as Noel and appeared in the 2004 summer film, Thunderbirds as Tintin.

Hudgens has also made numerous television appearances in guest roles on shows such as Quintuplets, Still Standing, Cover Me, Robbery Homicide Division, Brothers Garcia and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, as a classmate of Ashley Tisdale and Brenda Song's characters. Hudgens also appeared on Drake & Josh, playing Drake's girlfriend.

However, it was her recent role in the Disney Channel Original Movie, High School Musical, starring opposite Zac Efron, Ashley Tisdale and Lucas Grabeel, which premiered in January of 2006, that put Hudgens in the spotlight more than ever.

The film's success turned Hudgens into a "household name" as Hudgens and Efron won the "Best Chemistry" award at the Teen Choice Awards for their roles. As a result of the film's popularity, Hudgens was offered a contract by Old Navy to appear in multiple commercials for the company reforming a reationship Hudgens had previously with the company by appearing in a swimwear commercial in 2005.

Hudgens also participated in the Disney Channel Games 2006, which were filmed in April of 2006 and aired two months later. Of course was a member on the winning Blue Team, along with Brenda Song, Corbin Bleu, Cole Sprouse, Monique Coleman and Jason Earles.

In June of 2006, Hudgens signed a recording contract with Hollywood Records; her album, V was released September 26, 2006 in the United States and debuted at #24 on the album charts with 34,000 copies sold during its first week.

The album is scheduled for a January 2007 release in the U.K. and Hudgens has described her album as "pop-rock, pop-R&B and pop-dance... almost like a mix-tape".

The first music video from the album, for the song "Come Back to Me", premiered on the Disney Channel in August of 2006 and this fall 2006, Hudgens will be opening for The Cheetah Girls in their "The Party's Just Begun" tour, performing at 20 out of the 40 cities included in the tour, between October 17, 2006 and November 15, 2006.

Hudgens is also confirmed to be a part of the High School Musical tour which will cover 40 cities from November 29, 2006 - January 28, 2007. The only cast member not present on the tour will be Zac Efron, due to a scheduling conflict with filming another project.

Here is a look at Hudgens' career filmography and discography.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
2002 Still Standing Tiffany Episode: "Still Rocking"
2002 Robbery Homicide Division Nicole at 10 Episode: "Had"
2003 Thirteen Noel
2003 The Brothers Garcia Lindsey Episode: "New Tunes"
2004 Thunderbirds Tintin
2005 Quintuplets Carmen Episode: "Coconut Kapow"
2006 Drake & Josh (TV Series) Rebecca Episode: "Little Sibling"
2006 High School Musical Gabriella Montez made-for-television
2006 The Suite Life of Zack and Cody Corrie Episodes: "Kept Man", "Neither a Borrower Nor a Speller Bee", "Not So Suite 16" & "Forever Plaid"
2007 High School Musical 2: Sing It All Or Nothing! Gabriella Montez made-for-television

Soundtracks

Album Cover Album Information
High School Musical Released: January 10, 2006 (US) Label: Walt Disney Records Peak U.S. Billboard: #1 (US - 2 weeks) U.S. sales: 3,224,087 RIAA certification: 3x Platinum Singles feat. Vanessa Hudgens: 2006: "Breaking Free" 2006: "Start of Something New" 2006: "We're All in This Together" 2006: "What I've Been Looking For (Reprise) 2006: "When There Was Me and You"
High School Musical 2: Sing It All Or Nothing! Released: early 2007 (US) Label: Walt Disney Records Peak U.S. Billboard: U.S. sales: RIAA certification: Singles feat. Vanessa Hudgens: 2007: "TBA"

Singles

Year Song U.S. Hot 100 UK singles AUS IT RD ARC Album
2006 "Breaking Free" (with Zac Efron) 4 9 13 1 1 - High School Musical OST
2006 "Start of Something New" 28 - - 2 1 - High School Musical OST
2006 "We're All in This Together"(featuring High School Musical Cast) 34 - 89 1 1 - High School Musical OST
2006 "What I've Been Looking For (Reprise)"(featuring Zac Efron) 67 - - 5 - - High School Musical OST
2006 "When There Was Me and You" 72 - - 6 - - High School Musical OST
2006 "Come Back to Me" 69 - - 70 1 34 V