School's out

He's won the hearts of thousands of young girls but can he make it outside the teen scene? The well-mannered, well-behaved Zac Efron talks to DONALD CLARKE

IF YOU are over the age of 16 then there is a very real possibility that you haven't heard of the most famous person in the world. This realisation struck me about four years ago when I attended the UK premiere of Hairspray. While being channelled through the service entrance, I suddenly heard an uproar of apocalyptic proportions. A small nation of teenage girls was flinging itself hysterically against the ropes while emitting piercing high-pitched wails. One of the stars of this entertaining musical was clearly making his or her way up the red carpet. It was nice to know that Michelle Pfeiffer was still so admired. Maybe the lucky actor was Christopher Walken.

Zac Efron? Sorry? I have no idea who you're talking about. Efron is almost certainly no longer the most famous person on the planet. The last High School Musicalmovie – the cause of Zac's renown – emerged in 2008. That's a lifetime in this universe. Biff Bolden or Chuck Sexpot has probably grabbed the crown in the interim. Heck, Justin Bieber can probably walk down the street unmolested these days.

To be fair, young Efron turned out to be a pretty decent actor. After waving goodbye to the High Schoolfollies, he went on to shine in Richard Linklater's Me and Orson Welles. He has just finished working on The Paperboy, the new film from Lee Daniels, director of Precious.

Before those more rarefied pleasures come along, however, the public can savour the Efron brand in Garry Marshall's New Year's Eve. The film is, essentially, Marshall's Valentine's Day– that thing with all the interweaving stories – dragged back in the calendar by a month and a half. Robert De Niro, Halle Berry, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hilary Swank and a dozen other stars have supposedly touching adventures on the last day of the year. Efron plays a bicycle courier who finds himself helping Michelle Pfeiffer's frustrated office worker to achieve a series of apparently unreasonable ambitions. Efron acquits himself quite well under the circumstances.

"Last time I worked with Michelle was on Hairspray," he says. "I was a lot younger. I was really nervous. I put my foot in my mouth whenever I talked to her. This time, we got to hang out a lot more. I am a little more sure of myself now." Oh, I think you're pretty sure of yourself, young man. To generate this degree of teen love you need to convey a perfect blend of vulnerability and confidence. You should have the sort of face that looks as if it might cry during the sad bits in Highway to Heaven. But you also require the swagger of the class joker. It's been this way for generations. Paul McCartney managed it. So did the Bay City Rollers. Leonardo DiCaprio had it in his younger days. The difficulty – with which Leo is still struggling at 37 – is translating teen fame into grown-up stardom.

Efron is off to a good start. He’s spent the last year broadening his range. What advice would he have for any young actor lucky enough to be confronted with this dilemma? “I think it’s important to stay private,” he says after a long hum.

“It’s important to remember the big picture. Follow your heart and, most importantly, know what you want. It’s really hard. And you probably shouldn’t live in LA.”

It must, however, be inordinately difficult for a star like Zac, now 24, to “stay private”. Within the space of a few months he went from being a moderately successful child actor to a proper old-school pin-up. He was on lunchboxes and watches and T-shirts. Buying a pint of milk must have involved a military operation. “There is a bit of that,” he says. “Yeah. There are certain things you try and be a bit more careful of. Other than that you still try and find ways to have fun. I do spend a little more time at home.” Aware that he might sound ungrateful, he rapidly doubles back on himself.

“That’s not a shame though. Sometimes it can bum you out. But when that happens you just remember you have so much to be thankful for. I don’t want to be the guy who lets it get to him. I try and focus on the positive.” Have there ever been instances where it’s all gotten out of hand? I imagine young women attaching themselves to him like limpits. “Yes. That has happened. But you just have to try and laugh about it.”

As you will have gathered, Efron is a disappointingly well-behaved young man. Raised properly by a middle class family in southern California, he knows not to complain and – when asked about his partying habits – makes sure to clarify that, while enjoying the odd drink, he tries not to go overboard. He dated Vanessa Hudgeon, his co-star in High School Musical, for a spell, but they managed to end the relationship without attracting too much negative publicity. He is, in short, the very model of the contemporary youth-oriented movie star.

I wonder when he realised he was becoming a superstar. The son of an electrical engineer, Efron worked hard at school and secured a few small parts a kid. Then, to the surprise of everyone – including Walt Disney – High School Musical,a humble TV movie, became a runaway success. Who knew the teen musical was due a comeback? Gleeis, in many ways, the bastard child of the HSM franchise.

“Yeah. Nobody saw it coming. We were all shaking our heads,” he says. “I knew it had become a sensation when it went international. I had never been outside the Unites States before that. I’d hardly left California.

“Suddenly I was on an airplane seat bigger than my bed at home. I was meeting fans all over the world. It was all very surreal. I’ll never forget that moment.”

Still, Efron was faced with a choice. Still just a teenager, he continued to imagine that, after school, he would make his way to the University of Southern California. A decision had to be made. “Oh, I still don’t know what I am going to do with my life,” he laughs. “My whole life had been pointing towards college. I wanted to go to USC.

"Then I hit that fork in the road. I had to pick going to college or doing Hairspray. I decided when my dad – who had always said: 'You go to college or you're not my son' – said he felt I should do Hairspray. Then I realised I had to do that."

What might otherwise have become of him? “Well, I was going to do film or drama anyway. I did the right thing. I’ve talked to a few people who did the course and they are still asking to come on set with me.”

Efron does appear to be in this game for the long run. He still comes across like an overgrown boy in a good suit. But he exhibits that terrifying aura of professionalism that only Americans can manage at this age. You get the sense that the next year or so could be the defining point in his young life. If he achieves escape velocity and leaves teen mania behind then he could be headlining serious movies for decades to come.

Unlike Bieber, who (younger, to be fair) comes across like a runt moose stranded in the lights of an oncoming Land Rover, Efron has the wit to sit back and analyse his situation with some sharpness. I suspect that, even if he does get sent back to sit-com gulch, he will manage to remain maturely philosophical. “Coming into all this when young was strange,” he muses.

“It was fun in a lot of ways. But it required one to become a professional before one had become a human being. It’s like a constant balancing act. It was difficult at tine. But I wouldn’t change it.”

Take heed, Biff Bolden and Chuck Sexpot. You’ll be faced with the same challenges sooner than you think.

The Young Pretenders

1. CORBIN BLEU

Still, thank heavens, a relatively fresh 22, Mr Bleu fancies himself as a producer and singer-songwriter. His unimaginatively titled album Another Side(we're Bob Dylan then, are we?) thudded into the Billboard charts at an unimpressive 36. Once again, his film roles have not lit up the box office or troubled the Oscar voters. Soon to be seen in something called Nurse 3D.

2. VANESSA HUDGEONS

Already a busy performer before High School Musicalstarted – she was Tintin in that ghastly Thunderbirdsmovie – Hudgeons, a genuinely talented actor, hasn't done too badly. There was an unfortunate incident involving unofficially released nude photos. But she was great in Bandslamand acquitted herself respectably in the awful Sucker Punch. Soon to be seen opposite Brendan Fraser in Gimme Shelter.

3. LUCAS GABREEL

Yikes. Apparently Lucas, who played Ryan Evans in High School Musical, is now 28. How did that happen? His recording career has not exactly set the world on fire. But he has turned up in a few movies. The Legend of the Dancing Ninja? Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure?No, me neither. Currently appearing in (oh dear) a "web series" entitled I Kissed a Vampire.

4. ASHLEY TISDALE

The archetypal Disney Channel star, Tisdale, now a surprising 26, released a hit album as long ago as 2007. In recent years, she secured the lead role in the TV series Hellcats. Unfortunately, she too attracted controversy for appearing scantily clad. Speaking of the photos in Alluremagazine, she said: "Being in this shoot was me saying, 'I'm not just the young girl everybody thinks I am. I'm actually a woman'." Whatever, dude.