Vanessa Hudgens Through the Years: Her Life in Photos

Singing was the start to a lifelong career for Vanessa Hudgens. Hudgens grew up singing and doing musical theater since she was 4 years old. She starred in local productions of The Wizard of Oz, The Music Man and Cinderella before portraying Gabriella Montez in the Disney Channel franchise High School Musical. She also released studio albums V (2006) and Identified (2008) between movies. Following her time on Disney, Hudgens starred in Sucker Punch (2011), Spring Breakers (2012) and Netflix’s The Princess Switch movies. She continued to perform on stage and starred in Fox’s live musical productions Grease Live! (2016) and Rent: Live (2019). In May 2024, the actress was revealed to be the season 11 winner of The Masked Singer. During the season premiere, Hudgens alluded to her successful career while under the persona of Goldfish. “When I first started out, I made a splash overnight. But all that success made me feel like I was living in a fishbowl, with everyone’s eyes and expectations on me,” she said at the time. After being unmasked, Hudgens reflected on the competition saying, “I never knew that this would give me the freedom to purely just do something that I love.” “I grew up doing musical theater,” she told E! News following her big win. “I’ve been doing it almost my entire life. All those hours don’t go and disappear. I got to bring that with me into the work I constantly do. And this was a really beautiful and fun place to be able to share that.” Keep scrolling to see the Disney star’s life in photos:

Hudgens appeared in local musical productions before landing her first acting role in an episode of CBS’ Still Standing in 2002. She guest starred in Robbery Homicide Division before making her film debut in Thirteen (2003) as Noel. 

Hudgens was boosted to stardom portraying Gabriella Montez in the Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical alongside Zac Efron, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Alyson Reed, Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman. She went on to reprise the role for two High School Musical 2 (2007) and High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008). Hudgens and Efron started dating during production of the first movie in 2005.

Between films, Hudgens released studio albums V (2006) and Identified (2008). Her hit singles included “Come Back to Me,” “Say OK” and “Sneakernight.”

After HSM, Hudgens starred in Bandslam with fellow Disney star Aly Michalka.

Hudgens returned to the stage and starred as Mimi in Rent. The production ran at the Hollywood Bowl and was directed by Neil Patrick Harris.

Later that year, Hudgens and Efron called it quits due to long distance.

Hudgens starred with Alex Pettyfer in Beastly and later portrayed Blondie in Sucker Punch. She was one of five female leads alongside Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jenna Malone and Jamie Chung. 

The Disney star started dating fellow actor Austin Butler in 2011. The two met through Tisdale who was a mutual friend. 

Hudgens starred in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island with Dwayne Johnson and Josh Hutcherson, playing Hutcherson’s love interest Kailani.

Hudgens starred alongside Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine and James Franco in Spring Breakers. She also played Cindy Paulson in The Frozen Ground and Cereza in Machete Kills.

The singer starred in Gimme Shelter with Brendan Fraser.

Hudgens starred in the comedy horror film Freaks of Nature (2015). That same year, she played the title role in the Kennedy Center production of Gigi, which transferred to Broadway later in April. 

Continuing with stage work, Hudgens played Rizzo in Fox’s live broadcast Grease Live! (2016). The actress dedicated her performance to her father who passed away the night before the show from stage IV cancer at the age of 65. 

“I am so sad to say that last night my daddy, Greg, passed away from stage 4 cancer,” Hudgens tweeted at the time. “Thank you to everyone who kept him in your prayers. Tonight, I do the show in his honor.”

Hudgens played Emily Locke on NBC’s Powerless and served as a judge on season 14 of So You Think You Can Dance with Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy. 

Hudgens starred alongside Finn Wolfhard and Nina Dobrev in Dog Days. She then portrayed a European Duchess and a pastry chef from Chicago in Netflix’s The Princess Switch and landed the role of Vanessa Morales in the Kennedy Center production of In the Heights.

Hudgens starred in another Fox live broadcast as Maureen Johnson in Rent: Live. Later that year, she starred in and produced Netflix’s The Knight Before Christmas.

Early in 2020, Us Weekly exclusively confirmed that Hudgens and Butler had called it quits. During an episode of the “She Pivots” podcast in March 2024, Hudgens shared that her last breakup (referring to Butler) “really catapulted me to a very, very special place.” She also previously shared in the episode that “so much of my character was built from my breakups.”

Hudgens appeared in the third installment of the Bad Boys franchise, Bad Boys for Life, with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Later that year, she starred in and produced the sequel The Princess Switch: Switched Again.

The Second Act actress appeared in Netflix’s Tick, Tick… Boom! and returned for the third installment of The Princess Switch series, The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star. 

Hudgens sparked romance rumors with MLB shortstop Cole Tucker back in 2020, but it wasn’t until Valentine's Day in 2021 that they became Instagram official with a photo of them kissing. “It’s you, it’s me, it’s us,” Hudgens captioned the post.

Hudgens starred alongside Alexandra Shipp, Kiersey Clemons and Ezra Miller in Asking for It. She also starred in Downtown Owl based on Chuck Klosterman’s 2008 novel of the same name.

Hudgens and Tucker announced their engagement in February and the two tied the knot later that year in December. Back in April 2021, Hudgens told Entertainment Tonight that her husband was “just kind of perfect for me.”

Hudgens reunited with Bandslam costar Scott Porter as both competed in season 11 of The Masked Singer. Hudgens won the season as “Goldfish” while Porter placed second as “Gumball.”

In March, the singer revealed that she and Tucker were expecting their first child on the Oscars red carpet. Hudgens showed off her baby bump while wearing a form-fitting, black Vera Wang turtleneck dress with her hair in a half-up style. 

Four months later, Hudgens gave birth.

Hudgens and Tucker hit the red carpet at the Vanity Fair Oscar party in March. Months later in July, she revealed that she is pregnant with her second baby.

"Round two," she wrote via Instagram, captioning maternity images.