Turns out, Ashley Tisdale wasn’t just playing Sharpay Evans — she was Sharpay Evans.
Lucas Grabeel, who played Sharpay’s brother Ryan in High School Musical, revealed at MegaCon on Feb. 6 that Tisdale’s real-life energy matched her over-the-top character a little too well.
“I was paired with Ashley, and she really pissed me off,” he jokingly told fans.
According to Grabeel, Tisdale took their early rehearsals just as seriously as Sharpay would have, which is “why she got the job — she was so Sharpay.”
“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,’” he recalled.
When he told her he was already prepared, she insisted, going as far as giving him detailed acting notes. “I’m like, ‘Whoa, she’s giving me notes,’” he said, laughing.
But in the end, he admits her intense approach actually helped him. “That is exactly who Ryan is… ‘I have to perform, she’s driving me nuts, but I’ll keep it all inside.’ So thank you, Ashley, for giving me notes.”
Since the Disney Channel classic, Grabeel has focused on voice acting but made a special return for High School Musical: The Musical: The Series — something most of the original cast passed on.
