My mates asked: What’s Zac Efron like?
By NADIA MENDOZA
Published: 13 Oct 2008

BRIT teenager JEMMA McKENZIE-BROWN is living every schoolgirl’s dream – starring alongside pin-up ZAC EFRON in movie sensation High School Musical 3: Senior Year.

The 14-year-old Yorkshire lass was plucked from obscurity to join the household names in the Disney franchise which has taken the world by storm.

Jemma said: “It hasn’t sunk in yet. It’s crazy. My close friends can’t wait to see the film.

“They rang every week I was in The US and gathered round the phone to ask, ‘What’s Zac Efron like?’ ”

Jemma beat thousands of hopefuls to play Tiara Gold, a new student at East High School with Troy (Zac), Gabriella (VANESSA HUDGENS) and Sharpay (ASHLEY TISDALE).

After two successful auditions in the UK she was flown to LA — her first time in the US. After a gruelling

third audition she went back to school thinking she had messed up.

Cool

Then her mum Jayne got the call to say Jemma had got the part. The youngster said: “When she told me I didn’t believe her.”

The budding star goes to the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London and was in the TV series The Amazing Mrs Pritchard with JANE HORROCKS two years ago.

But High School Musical 3 is her first taste of the big time. And she already has big plans for the future.

She said: “It would be so cool to be the new KEIRA KNIGHTLEY. I’m up for the challenge.”

Despite her success and remarkable maturity, in many ways she is just a typical teenager. She even has a crush on McFLY bassist DOUGIE POYNTER.

She said: “I met TOM FLETCHER from McFly at the Camp Rock premiere. They are my No1 band in the whole world. I was hoping to meet Dougie. He’s my favourite.”

And she was amazed how much attention Zac and Vanessa, who are an item on and off screen, and the rest of the cast get from fans.

She said: “It’s really weird. In the US I stayed in an amazing hotel and people kept doing stuff for me, asking what drinks I’d like in my trailer. It was like being a real Disney princess.”

Her father Carl, a trainer for BAE Systems, and mum Jayne, who works in banking, have tried to keep her feet on the ground.

But she said: “I’ve always have been independent because I’m an only child.

“Acting is something I’ve wanted to do since I was three, prancing up and down singing SPICE GIRLS songs.”

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