KEY POINTS:
Every year or so a new teen idol emerges on the Hollywood scene with looks that guarantee magazine covers, fill theatres and send girls around the world into a tizz.
Some of these idols, let's say Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio, stick around long enough to shrug off
the teen heart-throb tag, make serious movies, perhaps play a boozed up pirate or a drug addict, and score Oscar nominations.
Others, let's say Leif Garrett, fade from the spotlight and become drug addicts.
Some - think the male cast of Beverly Hills 90210 or Dawson's Creek - just quietly fade away.
The new kid on Hollywood's teen idol block is Zac Efron, a blue-eyed California lad with old Hollywood triple treat skills that should send him on the Depp-DiCaprio track.
The 19-year-old can sing, dance and act on stage or the big screen and, with all that talent, in 2007, has emerged as Hollywood's most marketable teenage property.
Physically, he's a bit of a wimp.
Efron stands just 175cm tall, but if you have a daughter aged between six to 18, he is most likely stapled on one of her bedroom walls.
In person, it's nice to reveal Efron is a nice fella.
For this interview in a Los Angeles hotel, he arrives without a posse of publicists or an entourage of friends.
There's a reason, Efron says, why he remains so down to earth.
"My family and friends are waiting for the chance to chop off my head if it gets too big," Efron, in a crumpled green vintage t-shirt and faded Diesel jeans, explains.
"I have a whole heap of people willing to do that.
"Hey, when I go home my little brother won't even let me sit in the front seat of the car.
"I'm like, 'Dude, give me the front seat'.
"You'd think being the older brother by 4.5 years would give me the right to have the front seat."
The front seat of the car at home may not be available, but Hollywood is willing to roll out the red carpet for Efron.
One of his first high-profile gigs was alongside Australian actor Ryan Kwanten in the 2004 beachside American teen TV series, Summerland, but his breakthrough role was in Disney's phenomenal 2006 TV movie, High School Musical.
The premiere of the sequel, High School Musical 2, created TV history in the US last month when 17.24 million viewers tuned in.
Aired on the Disney's pay TV channel, the numbers made it the most watched broadcast in American cable TV history.
Not surprisingly, Disney is planning a third High School Musical, with Efron's pay packet climbing from US$3 million to US$5 million.
New Zealand and Australia will also receive a strong dose of Efron over the next month or so.
On September 13, his first big screen musical, Hairspray, co-starring John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Michelle Pfeiffer, Queen Latifah, Amanda Bynes and Nikki Blonsky, opens in cinemas.
High School Musical 2 will make its debut on Sky TV's Disney Channel September 22 and Efron will host Australia's Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards in Sydney on October 10.
Efron's path to stardom began when his family, noting his singing ability, signed him up for professional lessons.
That led to stage productions near his home town of Arroyo Grande, on California's central coast.
Efron then journeyed to Los Angeles where he found the auditioning process a new experience.
He has been romantically-linked with his High School Musical co-star, Vanessa Hudgens, but he is not willing to talk about it.
"I don't want to talk about my private life," he says.
He will, however, admit, but only after a little badgering, that he has used his musical talent to woo a girl.
"OK," he says.
"There's probably been one instance where I've sung to a girl to be romantic.
"I can play two songs on my guitar and I really don't try too hard. I've sang a song to a girl with a guitar."
What song?
"It's a song by Ben Harper and it's called Walk Away," Efron reluctantly admits.
Walk Away? The title sounds like it would have the opposite effect on a woman?
"Ahhh, but you have to listen to the words," Efron smiled.
- AAP
