The fabulous Vanessa Hudgens is hardly the up-and-coming actor you’d expect to find in this column. She’s already a platinum-selling recording artist and has had several enviable roles in major studio productions. Hudgens, who’s less than thirty, has also been profiled by Forbes Magazine as part of their highest-earning young stars ranking. But her upcoming appearance in a movie currently being shot by America’s renegade filmmaker Harmony Korine should give this lovely young actor some indie cred and a chance to get cast in broader roles.

The thrilla from Manila (Hudgens is part Filipina and part Irish) is best known for her portrayal of the character Gabriella Montez in the High School Musical series. She started acting early, first appearing in plays when she was eight years old. Once her family moved to Los Angeles Hudgens started getting small roles in films like Thirteen (2003) and 2004’s Thunderbirds.

Hudgens will appear alongside Selena Gomez and Emma Roberts in Korine’s upcoming film entitled Spring Breakers (read our interview with Harmony Korine). They play a group of girlfriends who rob a restaurant in order to pay for a vacation to the beach. And who would you guess gets enlisted to help with the planning of the robbery? None other than James Franco, as a drug-dealing rapper.

Hudgens recently returned from Paris where she was promoting Journey 2: the Mysterious Island. She’s now on the set of Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers.