Do we like Zac Efron?
Our score: 7 out of 10. No harmful words or company turned up and the good-mate stories are real, but the record we could verify is thinner than we'd like.
Zac Efron was born in San Luis Obispo, California, in 1987, and became a teen heart-throb through the High School Musical films before spending years trying to prove he was more than Troy Bolton. By 2023 he had a Hollywood Walk of Fame star and a serious dramatic turn in The Iron Claw to show for it.
The legal drama on his record is small beer. In 2022 a wellness brand called Down to Earth Organics sued him and Netflix over the title of his travel series, alleging it would confuse customers. The series' legal team said the proper rights had been obtained before filming, and the report we read gave no ruling, so it stands as an unresolved claim.
The recent headline is a messy one, but it isn't about him. At the Alexander brothers' trial, a witness described a 2012 NBA Finals party at his New York apartment and said she had little interaction with him. The brothers were on trial over alleged sex trafficking, and AP reports Efron is not accused of any wrongdoing. We found no statement from him either way.
On the harm check, we searched his name against LGBTQ+ people, women, climate, migrants and politics and found nothing he has said or done that fits. His Netflix series went looking for climate and sustainability solutions, which sits on the right side of the ledger, even if the show copped some ridicule. There's no sign of a slide into grievance or conspiracy talk, and no sign of him choosing harmful company. That's the whole list, so the verdict rests on an absence, and we'll say so.
The good stuff is mostly small and human. At his Walk of Fame ceremony he used his moment to thank his late 17 Again co-star Matthew Perry, calling him “so kind and generous”. That's the sort of detail that tells you how someone treats people when the cameras are pointed at them.
His handling of the Ted Bundy film in 2019 is worth a look too. He said he wanted to make it for the victims and insisted it was not a glamorisation of the killer, which is a fair thing to be careful about. Whether the film pulled that off is a fair argument, but his intent on record is a decent one.