Typical Young Hollywood Actress - Rich + Famous with minimal talent

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She's hot. That's good enough for me.

Why bother?

Yes shes hot. Even more so when she was in her teens. But thats Hollywood for you. When it comes to women no one cares if you can act. Only what you look like.

Eh, sure looks are important this is hollywood after all, but charisma is even more important. And Vanessa's got both.

The High School Musical series is like a mixture of tween opera and tween soap opera, the acting in it is different than in a realistic film. I thought Vanessa was good in the series as a whole.

She was then in Bandslam. She received critical praise for her acting, I thought she was great. She also has great screen presence, in a supporting and subdued role.

Beastly. Admittedly her acting in Beastly was bad, but to be fair everyone in the film was bad. Only NPH comedy ad-libbing was in anyway real. A nice thing about Vanessa's acting here is that her character was interesting and likable, something no other actor except NPH could achieve in the film.

Sucker Punch. She acted well in her dramatic scenes. My main complaint was her in the actions scenes completely unbelievable, but the ironic, symbolic nature of the film makes it difficult to ascertain if Snyder told her to act that way on purpose.

Now she just finished a film where she acts as a tomboy pregnant teenager who's homeless. It's called 'Gimme Shelter'. She cut her hair in a suitably tomboy cut and gained some weight for the role.

And right now she is filming a crime thriller drama, based on a true story called 'The Frozen Ground'. In it she plays a stripper prostitute who is kidnapped by a serial killer but manages to escape. The film chronicles her fight to capture the killer with another police officer who is the only one who believes her, played by Nicholas Cage. So she may very well be starring in that film. John Cusack is playing the serial killer/family man.

So in short, Vanessa can act, not to sure how well as yet, but she is taking on more demanding roles.

Finally, a porper response, thank you.

Eh, sure looks are important this is hollywood after all, but charisma is even more important. And Vanessa's got both.

See, this is the thing I hate with a passion about Hollywood today. It doesn't matter the talent you have, once your face is pretty and your body is toned and you weight less than a feather you're an actress! Ridiculous. It's getting to the point where performers who excel at there craft don't get half enough recognition because they might not be beautiful enough to sale a film or a record...doesn't anyone care about actual talent anymore?!

The High School Musical series is like a mixture of tween opera and tween soap opera, the acting in it is different than in a realistic film. I thought Vanessa was good in the series as a whole.

I agree with the part in bold, however, if you look at the character of Sharpay for example, I believe her character needed that extra element of drama because of the high maintenance type personality she possesses. Gabriella was supposed to be, in my eyes anyway, the direct opposite of Sharpay. I just found her portrayal of Gabriella to be almost as over the top as Ashley's portrayal of Sharpay. And while I think Ashley did a good job with Sharpay, Vanessa just seemed to make Gabriella annoying and predictable. I’ll admit, I thought she was good in the first HSM, but from there on she just lacked any authentic value. Simply put, being the lead female in the franchise, in ten years’ time people will remember Ashley's performances before hers in my opinion.

She was then in Bandslam. She received critical praise for her acting, I thought she was great. She also has great screen presence, in a supporting and subdued role.

Beastly. Admittedly her acting in Beastly was bad, but to be fair everyone in the film was bad. Only NPH comedy ad-libbing was in anyway real. A nice thing about Vanessa's acting here is that her character was interesting and likable, something no other actor except NPH could achieve in the film.

Sucker Punch. She acted well in her dramatic scenes. My main complaint was her in the actions scenes completely unbelievable, but the ironic, symbolic nature of the film makes it difficult to ascertain if Snyder told her to act that way on purpose.

I saw a small part of Bandslam - around Aly's character's father's death - so it would be unfair to assess her performance in that. However I didn't see Beastly - after hearing that, I won't be, and I did see Sucker Punch. It was a real let down, to be honest. It looked good but ultimately failed to deliver. Which is a shame because if it was done differently it could been quite a good film.

Now she just finished a film where she acts as a tomboy pregnant teenager who's homeless. It's called 'Gimme Shelter'. She cut her hair in a suitably tomboy cut and gained some weight for the role.

I saw the photograph of her with her newly chopped locks; I will give her props for that on two counts: One, for taking the role seriously enough to alternate her image and two, because I have long hair and I couldn't even begin to try and chop it off.

And right now she is filming a crime thriller drama, based on a true story called 'The Frozen Ground'. In it she plays a stripper prostitute who is kidnapped by a serial killer but manages to escape. The film chronicles her fight to capture the killer with another police officer who is the only one who believes her, played by Nicholas Cage. So she may very well be starring in that film. John Cusack is playing the serial killer/family man.

So in short, Vanessa can act, not to sure how well as yet, but she is taking on more demanding roles.

I'll be looking out for those movies; hopefully she makes something of her career. I do want her to succeed, however, I want Ashley to succeed as well, because I believe she's a tremendously talented actress but she seems to want to continue to participate in children and teen movies which will ultimately kill her career unfortunately. Stick to the grown up roles Vanessa.

I'd say there is far too much nepotism, backroom politics and scratching of backs in Hollywood. Never before has films been so much at the mercy of businessmen with money in their pockets.

But that doesn't mean we can just start blaming beautiful people or charismatic performers with screen presence.

Sure acting talent is important too but who is really in charge of hiring actors? Directors? Writers? No it's the producers, those with the money. And they pick actors based on their likability, not their acting talent. In addition they hold the marketing dollars, and support of a film also lies in how marketable it's lead actor is.

Disney is the perfect example. They build franchises to sell a myriad of products. Acting ability is actually the least of their concerns when picking young actors to star in their films. Vanessa was picked in large part cause she was beautiful, charismatic, had a decent voice and had undeniable chemistry with Zac Efron.

So really if there's anyone to blame it's rich businessmen and your average movie going public who don't ask more from their films.

Almost forgot about the agents too. Large companies of agents, if you have enough money and 'potential' a powerful agent makes a big difference. Obviously this depends on the selling ability of the agent not so much the auditioning merits of the actor.

Sharpays role was the most melodramatic clearly, so it makes sense that it would be the most dynamic. Nonetheless the amount of fans Vanessa gained from her role HSM can't be denied and the manner in which she played the role deserves some credit. (of course this only was of any use, in HSM 1 and 2. Part three really had no heart or sophistication and felt fake on all levels. Vanessa's performance is suitably saccharine though)

Apart from her ethnic looks, charisma and screen presence. I think Vanessa also has good instincts as an actress. This was shown in the HSM series but most of all in 'Beastly'. That was a pretty subpar film but it's Vanessa's performance (not Alex, NPH or anyone else), that 'grounds' the film and set's it's tone, which is that of a playful sweet romance. This was the best course as the more serious Beastly got, the more dumb it seemed, also the more it's comedy seemed out of place. So her performance is dominating and for the better. (Mary Kate's performance is like from a different film altogether, great as it was) This point is actually why they probably changed the ending into the far superior one they have now. (the original ending had her crying over a bullet wounded Beast who dies but comes back to life as a human, trust me it sucked)

She'll also be in the next Journey film called, 'Journey to the mysterious island'. Playing the lead female role of the hot headed daughter of a helicopter tourist guide.

Vanessa was picked in large part cause she was beautiful, charismatic, had a decent voice and had undeniable chemistry with Zac Efron.


Notice how "she could act" or "she was talented" wasn't used in that description.

Which is because she has no talent.