Vanessa Hudgens

At the end of her new movie Bandslam, Vanessa Hudgens rocks out with an electric guitar, and it’s actually her playing. She says that the song in the movie is the only one she knows how to play, but she did it herself and had calluses on her fingers to prove it.

In the movie, Hudgens stars alongside former Friends star Lisa Kudrow. Hudgens plays a geeky, off-beat girl named Sa5m (pronounced “Sam”) who at the last minute steps in as lead singer of a band in a battle of the bands concert. The character (like Hudgens) only knows how to play one song. Hudgens has said that as grateful as she is for Disney’s help in launching her career, she would like to take on roles that will separate her from her Gabriella Montez character in the High School Musical movies.

In addition to Bandslam, Hudgens will play the lead in Zack Snyder’s new film called Sucker Punch. Snyder is the director of movies 300 and Watchmen. Hudgens promises that moviegoers will be “genuinely shocked” at her portrayal of a girl in a mental hospital who, along with others, tries to escape.

And if that weren’t enough, she’ll also star in a 2010 movie called Beast with actor Alex Pettyer. The new teen horror movie is a modern day re-telling of the classic story Beauty and the Beast, as envisioned by DC comics.