If you watched Disney Channel growing up, then you have pretty much watched Corbin Bleu grow up, also. From starring in High School Musical in 2006 to High School Musical: The Musical: The Series in 2022, the Disney alum has gone full circle! Keep reading to see his transformation in photos over the years.
ICYMI, the actor played Chad Danforth in the HSM franchise, with the third and last movie premiering in 2008. However, things got meta when he played himself, Corbin Bleu, in season 3 of the Disney+ series HSMTMTS.
Corbin admitted that appearing on the show still felt like coming home “in many ways” during an interview with People in July 2022.
“I really went on an emotional roller coaster,” he explained. “When this season was coming to an end, I had a moment where I was just watching all of them perform, and it just hit me. It hit me like a ton of bricks where I’m seeing the impact that the original movies had. The fact that it even paved the way for this to take place, and the fact that they’re carrying the torch in such a beautiful way — and then the fact that I got to be a part of it again, that I got to actually live in the joy and the magic that is High School Musical again, I wasn’t expecting it.”
In HSMTMTS, Corbin plays a heightened version of himself, appearing as a celebrity guest at Camp Shallow Lake, where East High students put on a production of Frozen.
“Onscreen Corbin is definitely not me,” he assured. “He’s so much more jaded and full of himself and kind of an ass. But what’s really wonderful about him is his realization of what theater and performance and these kids mean to him, and what it all did mean to him back then.”
He added, “I want people to see me in a different light. I don’t want to be pigeonholed in this certain character. You grow. And in order to do that, sometimes, you have to pull away. But enough time has passed that I can now visualize it not as something that’s dragging me or holding onto me, but as its own separate entity that I know that I came from. And I appreciate it so much.”
Scroll through the gallery below to see photos of Corbin’s evolution over the years.
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