Vanessa Hudgens

I’ve always wanted to play Maria in West Side Story. My idol is Natalie Wood, and I love the movie, so I think a modern-day twist on it would be really neat.

Guys act strange around me. I swear I don’t know why!

I love funky styles. Not preppy or rock, just funky! Vanessa: (on her mom) She gave up so much for me. She moved many times so I could follow my career. Vanessa: I’ve always had problems with guys!

I sing and dance as well, and I would like to do the whole Hilary Duff thing.

I don’t go long without eating. I never starve myself: I grab a healthy snack.

I like someone who’s not afraid to be a kid!

The day before the film (Harry Potter) was released, I was just sitting in Leicester Square, happily being ignored by everyone. Then suddenly strangers are screaming your name. Amazing.

[when asked if she had ever been asked to “sex it up” a little] I’m more of the down-home – I guess, you know, the good-old girl. Being sexy is kind of funny to me. You know, I can get kind of spunky or I can get tough, you know, that kind of tough, sexy look. But sexy? No, I don’t think so. Just what you see is what you get on me. And it’s never been anything of a sexual nature.

I don’t believe your soul mate has to share your politics.

I don’t like to feel that I owe anything. I like to feel that I pay my own way – there’s no free lunch. And when people give me all these great compliments, I thank them but still go back to my room and practice. And a lot of times I say to myself ‘I wish I could be worthy of all the compliments that people give me sometime.’ I am not inventing anything that’s going to stop cancer or muscular distrophy or anything, but I like to feel that my time and talent is always there for the people that need it.

I have to tell you, and I don’t mean this as sour grapes or anything, but it is hard to play for fans who see you all the time, makes it much harder.

Cricket is basically baseball on valium.

I’ve watched the Emmys for almost my whole life, so it was crazy to finally be there in the audience clapping and actually going on stage. Hopefully one day I’ll get to be actually nominated.

The mall is my life.

It’s VH1, it’s everywhere, and you know music is just the world right now. People love music.

Time is the best teacher, but unfortunately, it kills all of its students.

I just LOVE lip gloss! It doesn’t matter if it’s $2 or $30.

I just want to continue being able to get roles that scare me and make me better and I think I can only grow as an artist if I do things that are scaring me and making me uncomfortable because that’s the only place you’ll learn anything.

At least when the race starts, he’ll know where they’re all at because they’ll all be in front of him.

Ninety-five percent of my audience was white.

He was going to make it. He had a passion for driving a car … Adam was never interested in anything else.