It’s always a challenge to play someone completely different. It’s so much fun, I love it!
Ashley Tisdale plays MKP’s fave High School Musical character Sharpay, the spoilt, bitchy, ulta-preened, over-the-top rich kid who has been trying (and failing!) to steal Troy from Gabriella since HSM began. We caught up with the gorrrgeous starlet for a chinwag about her part in High School Musical 3 and her super-successful acting and singing career.
We also find out what it’s really like to be a young star in Hollywood, get goss about what she gets up to with best pal Vanessa when the cameras aren’t rolling and hear stories about the HSM cast super-soaking Zac on set! Phew, we’re out of breath just thinking about it!
Sharpay has been the spoilt rich kid drama queen in the last couple of films, can we expect more of the same from her in this one?
Yeah! She’s definitely still the same Sharpay. I think she’s matured from the first two, but she’s more focused on herself and not just trying to control everything and everyone. In the second one she felt like she was the queen of it all – she was at her country club, it was her turf – but now she’s back at school so she’s really focusing on her future. And for her it’s the Julliard scholarship which is a step towards the Broadway future she feels is for her. She wants fame, she wants fortune, she wants it all – she’s pretty much never satisfied! So she’s still the same Sharpay causing drama. She’s awesome!
What do you think is the best thing about playing her?
That she’s completely the opposite of me. It’s always a challenge to play someone completely different. It’s so much fun, I love it! She’s been one of my favourite characters I’ve played, and yeah she’s the mean girl, but she’s also comedic, which is fun.
Do you not have any similarities with her?
The only similarities I do have to Sharpay is that she loves to perform. I love to perform. She’s very driven – I’m driven, but that’s really where it ends.
You get to wear lots of glamorous outfits in the film, do you have a favourite one?
Oooh, my favourite outfit?! You know I’d have to say one of my favourite outfits was in I Want It All, the foxy number, the leotard with the white tuxedo jacket with tails. It’s my favourite just because it’s something that’s like old – you know it’s kind of a throwback, very Chicago-like. It was my first time dressing up in something like that and so I was just like ‘Are you sure I get to wear a leotard?’ and they were like ‘Yes I’m sure, it’s a costume, you know, it’s for the part!’ I was like ‘OK!’. It’s very different for me and the short wig was really fun. So it was really cool, I love that outfit!
Did you get to keep any of your outfits at all?
I didn’t you know. I kept all the outfits from the first movie because they were a gift to me. I was like ‘I really want to keep my outfits!’ and they were like ‘OK!’, so they gave them to me – they didn’t know High School Musical was going to be so humungous. But then suddenly they had to start giving outfits to museums like Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and they didn’t have Sharpay’s clothes and were like ‘Ashley has them!’ so it was like ‘Oh no!’. I mean they never asked for them back, but on the sequel and the third one we’re not allowed to take anything anymore!
Are you quite into fashion?
Yeah I am. I love fashion.
Have you got any ideas to pursue any fashion dreams?
I just love playing with clothes – it’s expressing how I feel that day. But I don’t think I’m going to be coming out with a fashion line because a lot of people have done that already and I want to do something new and different. I’ve just started to produce [TV and film], so I’m kind of more creative in that area now.