Zac Efron honored with Hollywood Walk of Fame star

LOS ANGELES - A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled Monday honoring Zac Efron for an acting career best known for his starring role in the "High School Musical" trilogy.

Jeremy Allen White, Sean Durkin and Miles Teller joined Efron in speaking at the ceremony.

Efron and White are castmates in "The Iron Claw," a biography of professional wrestling's Von Erich family that Durkin directed and wrote the screenplay for and is set to be released Dec. 22. Teller and Efron co-starred in the 2014 romantic comedy, "That Awkward Moment."

The star is the 2,767th since the completion of the Walk of Fame in 1961 with the initial 1,558 stars.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 11: (L-R) Sean Durkin, Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White attend the Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Ceremony Honoring Zac Efron on December 11, 2023 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images)

Born Oct. 18, 1987, in San Luis Obispo and raised in Arroyo Grande, Efron took his first step toward acting when he was 11 years old and his parents noticed his singing ability. Singing and acting lessons soon led to an appearance in a production of "Gypsy" that ran 90 performances. Other early stage credits included "Peter Pan," "Auntie Mame," "Little Shop of Horrors" and "The Music Man."

Efron's first television credit was for a 2002 episode of the Fox space Western "Firefly." Efron had a recurring role in the first season of 2004-05 CW drama "Summerland" and became a cast member its second season.

Zac Efron. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)

Efron rose to fame in 2006 with his portrayal of basketball player Troy Bolton in the Disney Channel movie "High School Musical." He reprised the role in "High School Musical 2," which aired on Disney Channel in 2007 and "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," which was released theatrically in 2008.

His other film credits include "Hairspray," "17 Again," "New Year's Eve," "The Lucky One," "The Paperboy," "Neighbors," "Dirty Grandpa," "Baywatch," "The Greatest Showman," "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile" and "Firestarter."

Efron starred in two films set for release in 2024 -- the romantic comedy "A Family Affair" and the Peter Farrelly-directed fantasy comedy "Ricky Stanicky," about three friends who create an imaginary character to blame for their misbehavior over the past two decades, then are forced to bring him to life after their partners become suspicious and demand to meet him.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 11: Zac Efron poses with his star during his Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Ceremony on December 11, 2023 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images)

Farrelly also directed Efron in the 2022 Apple TV+ biographical war comedy drama "The Greatest Beer Run Ever," based on the true story of a man who leaves New York in 1967 to bring beer to his childhood buddies who are in the Army fighting in the Vietnam War.

Efron received a Daytime Emmy Award in 2021 as outstanding daytime program host for the Netflix travel series, "Down to Earth with Zac Efron."