Apart from Vanessa Hudgen’s pretty face, those who viewed the movie High School Musical might have noticed the brownish tone of her complexion and her sparkling dark brown eyes, typical of a Filipina. Well, she is a Filipina!
She says she is so proud of her heritage. After all, she grew up in Manila and loves Filipino food. “I love halo-halo, pancit and adobo. Am I such a Filipino? I eat rice every day.”
How she started as an actress
“One of my girlfriends asked me if I could go to an audition with her for a commercial. Fortunately enough, I booked it. I was doing tons of community theatre at the time so I was already used to doing musicals and stuff. One thing just led to another. I did a commercial and then another one. I started getting guest spots on TV shows and went on from there to do movies. And then I had my album which was crazy because I never thought that it would happen.”
Her main focus is acting
“My main focus from the very beginning was acting. Singing was something that I was good at, but never really thought of pursuing. The opportunity to do an album came after High School Musical. There were several offers and I couldn’t decide who to sign with. Finally, I picked Hollywood Records and made my album. It was a learning experience, being in the studio and finding what kind of music suits my voice best. I tried different kinds of music. I did pop, R&B and rock. I threw it all together and had this collection of different music which is why I call it “V.” The V is not only for Vanessa but for variety as well because there’s a different mixture of music there. Acting has always been my number one priority but we’ll see what happens.”
She loves being a role model. She thinks that in Hollywood, not too many people are very good role models. “Kids are looking up to the wrong people.