Ashely Tisdale was basically playing herself in High School Musical, according to her former costar Lucas Grabeel.
“I was paired with Ashley and she really pissed me off,” Grabeel told fans at the MegaCon convention on Thursday, February 6.
“This girl. I mean, this is why she got the job — she was so Sharpay,” he continued “She literally, we did the scene, we came out and she’s like ‘Hey, so I really wanna, like, rehearse and go over it again.’”
“And I was like, ‘I’m kinda good, cause I did my homework and I’m ready to go.’ And she’s like ‘No, please,’ And I’m like, ‘Okay, cool.’ … So we do the scene outside, by ourselves, and she’s like ‘Okay, so, when I say this line I want you to go over here and make this face,” he added. “And then at this point, I’m gonna add this line and I want you to react to that.’ And I’m like ‘Whoa, she’s giving me notes.’”
But things ultimately worked out for both actors. “I went to the callback and I had this, like ‘Bro, be professional.’ And that is exactly who Ryan is. He has this thing of like, ‘I have to perform, she’s driving me nuts, but I’ll keep it all inside.’ So thank you, Ashley for giving me notes.”
Grabeel has mostly worked as a voice actor since the 2006 film was released. He did opt to return for High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, despite most of the original cast declining to do the same.
In January 2025, Tisdale told listeners of the “Breaking Beauty” podcast that her 3-year-old daughter Jupiter thought High School Musical costar Zac Efron was her dad when she saw the movie for the first time.
“She’s like, ‘Daddy!’ I was like, ‘No, no, no.’ Just because they have dark hair that is not Daddy,” Tisdale said.
The actress also said that her daughter loves to watch her on screen. “She’s like, ‘I gotta see Mommy on the carpet, I gotta see Mommy on the carpet,’” Tisdale added. “That’s the most exciting thing to her, is that I’m on a carpet at the Wicked premiere, which I have nothing to do with. It’s so funny. So she’s just so proud to see me on that. It’s really cute.”
Having said that, it’s not clear that Jupiter totally understands her mom’s job yet, and Tisdale isn’t rushing that. “She’s got such a normal life. Her little life is so cute and fun,” she explained.
