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Ashley Tisdale is spilling the tea on what she thinks made her High School Musical character so iconic.
Tisdale, 39, who played musical theater queen bee Sharpay Evans in the hit Disney franchise, recently caught up with PEOPLE and she exclusively shared what she thought was “so funny” about the role.
“When I played the character of Sharpay — I think it was probably what made her so funny — was that I truly thought [Sharpay] was the popular girl in school. I thought Sharpay was popular, and I played it like she was popular,” Tisdale recalls.
“And [director] Kenny Ortega enhanced that. He really made me feel like I was popular. But what’s so funny is that she’s not the popular girl. She’s the drama queen. And my husband’s like, ‘That’s what’s so funny about how you played it. You really thought you were popular,’ “ she continues.
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The actress also shared how it feels “so cool” to see the character find new life on social media and in meme culture.
“Sharpay is — I swear she’s mother to everybody — because it’s like she just keeps coming back on these memes and people keep talking and doing the songs,” she says. “And I’m just like, I mean, out of everyone in High School Musical, my character is the most iconic. It’s so cool.”
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Tisdale — who also voices Candace Flynn in the hit animated series Phineas and Ferb — went on to say how lucky she feels to have been a part of multiple franchises that have reached cult status.
“I mean, it’s so cool … It’s really awesome to be a part of these projects that have really been so prevalent in pop culture and to play these characters,” she adds. “It’s just, you’re like, ‘Dang, man.’ I can’t believe out of everything that I auditioned for […] I got this animation [series] that has lasted this long. Or I was always trying to get a Disney movie, and never got the movie. And then, I got High School Musical. ”
“Out of all the ones, I get that. This is pretty awesome,” she says.
High School Musical became one of the most successful Disney Channel Original movies of all time. It generated two popular sequel films, the third of which was released in theaters in 2008 and earned more than $250 million worldwide at the box office, per Variety.
High School Musical 3: Senior Year marked the biggest opening weekend for a musical film up until that point (though it was eventually eclipsed by Les Misérables in 2012).
