Hudgens rose to fame portraying Gabriella Montez in the High School Musical film series (2006–2008)which brought her significant mainstream media success.
The success of the first film led Hudgens to acquire a recording contract with Hollywood Records, with whom she released two studio albums, V (2006) and Identified (2008).
She appeared in the films Bandslam (2009), Beastly,Sucker Punch (both 2011), Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Spring Breakers (both 2012), Second Act (2018), Bad Boys for Life (2020), and Tick, Tick...Boom! (2021).
She starred in the Netflix Christmas movies The Princess Switch (2018) and its sequels (2020 and 2021) and The Knight Before Christmas (2019), and co-produced the latter three
Hudgens played the role of Emily Locke in the NBC series Powerless (2017).
She also played the title role in the Broadway musical Gigi (2015) and had roles in two of Fox's live musical productions: Rizzo in Grease: Live (2016) and Maureen Johnson in Rent: Live (2019).
Hudgens had her first acting role in an episode of the sitcom Still Standing, airing on CBS in 2002, in which she portrayed Tiffany.