He spent fifteen years trying to outrun Troy Bolton, and a shattered jaw gave him the face to finally do it.
At a glance
- Known for
- Troy Bolton in High School Musical, The Greatest Showman, The Iron Claw
- Before fame
- Performed 90 shows in Gypsy at a California vaudeville theater starting at age 11
- Off-screen
- Chief Brand Officer and board member of Kodiak Cakes since 2022
Rise to Fame
Someone else sang most of his songs. The role that made him the defining teen idol of the late 2000s came with a voice double, Drew Seeley, because Efron's natural baritone didn't match the tenor range the High School Musical songs were written in. He sang a handful of lines in the first film, the opening verses of two songs and a balcony reprise. Disney didn't care. The face sold it, and the HSM soundtrack hit #1 on the Billboard 200.
By the sequels, the songs were rewritten for his actual voice. By Hairspray in 2007, he'd earned a Critics Choice ensemble award alongside John Travolta. But none of it mattered in the way he wanted. He was Troy Bolton, and Hollywood doesn't hand serious roles to guys the tween demographic has on their bedroom walls.
In the Spotlight
The Iron Claw changed the conversation. He played Kevin Von Erich, the surviving brother in a cursed wrestling dynasty, and critics called it the best performance of his career. 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. National Board of Review top ten. Kevin Von Erich himself endorsed the portrayal. Then A24 didn't bother campaigning for Oscar nominations, and the whole thing evaporated from awards season.
That snub tells you where he sits. He can deliver the work, but the industry still doesn't quite know what to do with him. He's got a dual-role thriller with A24 in post-production and a comedy opposite Will Ferrell at Amazon. The volume is there. The prestige recognition isn't, not yet.
Side Notes
The face everyone spent years speculating about wasn't cosmetic surgery. In 2013, he slipped in socks on a wet floor, hit a granite fountain, and shattered his jaw. His chin bone was hanging off his face. The masseter muscles overcompensated during recovery, permanently widening his jawline from a soft oval to a pronounced square. He didn't explain any of this publicly until 2022.
That same period was rougher than the jaw. He went to rehab twice in 2013 for alcohol, cocaine, and MDMA. He's been sober since. He relocated to Australia during the pandemic, bought land in New South Wales, and now splits his time building an eco-home and investing in wellness startups. The guy who got famous playing a high school basketball star now sells pancake mix as a C-suite executive.