Zac Efron shows off his basketball skills in movies like the High School Musical series and 17 Again, but does he actually play basketball in real life?
Zac Efron doesn’t play basketball very often in real life, but he does know how to play. He spoke about this being a plus when he landed a role in 17 Again. Zac enjoys sports in general though, and he spends a lot of time outdoors and in the gym.
Read on to learn more!
Zac Shows Off His Basketball Skills in More Than One Role
Zac plays basketball in real life, but the only reason fans can’t help wondering whether he does is that he seemingly cannot seem to stop landing roles as a basketball star! Troy Bolton, Zac’s character in Disney Channel’s High School Musical trilogy – the reason behind Zac’s rise to stardom – is a basketball star that struggles with choosing between the sport and his other passion; singing. Despite the success of these movies – the first sequel was one of the most-watched events ever broadcast on cable TV, and the second sequel made over $250 million at the box office – Zac seems to be over his High School Musical days.
Speaking to Men’s Fitness about his teenage self, Zac said, “I step back and look at myself and I still want to kick that guy’s ass sometimes. Like, f**k that guy. He’s done some kind of cool things with some cool people, he did that one thing [Neighbours] that was funny, but I mean he’s still just that f**king kid from High School Musical.”
The first major non-musical film that Zac did was 17 Again, which also required him to show off his basketball skills. He plays the younger version of Matthew Perry’s character, Mike, who was a basketball star in, you’ve guessed it, high school. Unlike Zac though, Matthew himself did nee some basketball lessons.
But this wasn’t something that Zac was upset about. “I’m going to be honest—it was a plus,” he said, at the time. “Like, all right, I can play basketball, and it’s a sport I feel you can show off in—which is important for this character and the movie. A pet peeve of mine is when people can’t actually do the sport that they are supposed to play on camera, so it’s nice to play basketball.”
Zac Enjoys Sports in Real Life Too
Basketball isn’t the only sport that Zac plays as a hobby; some of his other hobbies include rock climbing and surfing. He enjoys most outdoor sports, in fact, he appears in a YouTube series called Off The Grid, where he goes on a camping trip with some of his friends and his brother Dylan.
The trip was quite intense and included meeting wildlife and visiting both the ocean and the desert. Besides indulging in workouts like swimming in lakes, wake surfing behind speed boats, and jumping off of cliffs and into the ocean, Zac also eats vegan as a means of staying healthy and as a part of his self-care.
He told Teen Vogue, “Just like everyone else, I wake up, look in the mirror, and I see the imperfections and the bags under my eyes, and think, ‘Oh, man, is this really the best I’ve ever looked? I’m getting older?’ Recently what I’ve started doing is searching for the cure inside that’s causing the symptoms of what I’m getting on the outside.”