High School Musical’s love story between Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez sparked an offscreen romance for the actors who played them.
Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens, who portrayed Troy and Gabriella in the 2006 DCOM, notably started dating shortly after filming the first movie. The pair called it quits in 2010 after five years of dating.
“We got lucky because we started off together, so I think people like us because they fell in love with the characters,” Hudgens told Glamour during a June 2010 interview of her then-boyfriend. “Right off the bat, we had a connection. I think everybody could see it. When we had our audition, they paired us together. And he was adorable. I mean, he wasn’t the guy that he is today. Like, he had a gap in his teeth.”
Ashley Tisdale, for her part, found love with Christopher French, whom she wed in 2018. As the couple settled into married life, they avoided reliving her turn as Sharpay Evans in HSM, High School Musical 2 and High School Musical 3: Senior Year.
“I don’t watch that stuff myself and my husband really hasn’t seen that stuff either. If [our daughter is] watching with her friends one day, I might come across it. But I don’t think I would expose her to that stuff. I don’t know,” Tisdale exclusively told Us Weekly in March 2021, referring to the pair’s first child, Jupiter, who was born later that month. “Maybe when the time comes, it will be different. I want her to be really grounded and hopefully live somewhat of a normal life.”
Scroll below for more on the High School Musical cast’s dating history through the years:
