High School Musical took over 7.7 million TV screens in the United States when it premiered in 2006, making it the highest-rated Disney Channel Original Movie at the time.
The film followed basketball star Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) and an intelligent transfer student, Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens), as they break the status quo of East High School by auditioning for the spring musical, much to drama duo Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) and Ryan Evans’ (Lucas Grabeel) displeasure.
The wildly popular film, which also starred Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman and more, spawned two sequels, 2007’s High School Musical 2 and 2008’s High School Musical 3: Senior Year.
In April 2019, Monique Coleman, who portrayed Gabriella’s friend Taylor McKessie, exclusively told Us Weekly what it was like filming with a young cast.
“We just actually are really close friends and I cared. You know what I mean?” Coleman said. “I feel like so many people get into a position and then tear each other down. And it was really important for us to, like, stay very, like, tight-knit and to protect each other. Because, at the end of the day, these were adolescents.”
Scroll down to see what the cast of High School Musical is up to now:
