Listen to Vanessa Hudgens on Batanga

Vanessa Hudgens was born in Salinas, California, the daughter of Gina and Greg Hudgens. She has a younger sister, Stella Hudgens. Hudgens's father is an American of Irish and Native American descent, and her mother, who grew up in Manila, is a Filipino-born of Filipino, Spanish, and Chinese descent. Hudgens has been home-schooled since after her seventh-grade year at the Orange County High School of the Arts.

Starting at the age of eight, Hudgens performed in musical theater as a singer, and appeared in local productions of Carousel, The Wizard of Oz, The King and I, The Music Man, and Cinderella, among others.

Hudgens debuted in Thirteen as Noel and appeared in the 2004 film Thunderbirds as Tintin. Other appearances include guest roles on Quintuplets, Still Standing, The Brothers García and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, as Corrie. Hudgens also appeared on Drake & Josh, playing Drake's girlfriend, Rebecca.

Hudgens' largest role among teenage audiences has been starring in the Disney Channel movie series High School Musical and High School Musical 2, starring as the shy, intelligent student Gabriella Montez. Hudgens and Efron had won "Best Chemistry" award at the Teen Choice Awards for their roles. The first High School Musical spawned a hit soundtrack, a worldwide concert tour, a show at Walt Disney World, and even a book series that helped Hudgens land in Forbes magazine's list of top-earning stars under 21. In the list, the 18-year-old Hudgens was No. 7 with estimated earnings of $2 million. Hudgens will reprise the role in the upcoming High School Musical 3: Senior Year, scheduled for release on October 24, 2008.

Hudgens' debut album, entitled V, was released in early September 2006. She is signed with Hollywood Records, a Disney-owned record label. A music video for her first single, "Come Back To Me", debuted after the world premiere of The Cheetah Girls 2 in late August. The official music video for her second single, "Say OK", was first shown following the premiere of Disney's Jump In!. In August 2007 at the 2007 Teen Choice Awards, Hudgens was named the Choice Breakout Singer - Female.

Hudgens new album is titled Identified. The first single from her new album, titled, "Sneakernight", premiered on Radio Disney on April 11, 2008. On the first week of the release of her album, Identified sold more than 22,000, 12, 000 less than her first album, V.