When FILMINK first chatted to Vanessa Hudgens she was - seemingly impossibly - even more demure than she appears today. The starlet, now well versed in touring the world on promotional duties, was positively flush with excitement as she surveyed Sydney for the first time. "Oh my goodness, it is the most beautiful city. The harbour is truly stunning. I'm going to see if I can spend some more time here in the future. somehow!"

Hudgens - as Gabriella, the female lead of HSM who coaxed the crooner out of basketball playing beau Troy in the made-for-TV original - has been very much intrinsic to the success of the franchise, and retains equal top billing for the third instalment, despite getting somewhat shorter shrift in High School Musical 2.

With Hudgens always doing her own singing on the embarrassingly addictive soundtracks, she has laid an enviable launch pad for a singing career - not to mention film projects of a similar ilk, such as the upcoming Bandslam. She's putting her musical career on hold for the moment to push the new theatrical-ready HSM though - which sees high school seniors Troy and Gabriella staring down the barrel of a break-up as they head in different directions for college. What better way to soothe their angst than staging a spring musical inspired by their fears and dreams of the future?

Hudgens has never been shy about talking sequels - realising from the moment the first instalment netted thirty-nine million rabid viewers on the Disney channel that several further editions would probably be a fait accompli. "We all said we wouldn't do it without each other. Anything else has to be done on the same level: no knock-offs, just bigger and better. We won't do any less than the first one, which raised the bar high. It'll always be as good or better. No one will be arrogant or stressed, we'll just have fun - that's why the first one turned out good."

Keeping feet on the ground has been a repeated catch-call for Hudgens, whose notoriety hit stratospheric proportions when she bonded romantically with on-screen love interest Efron. The actress/singer realises that an ever-expanding profile is par for the course if you're in a world-beating production. "Your privacy is definitely a casualty. I suppose in many ways it is flattering that people want to know all about you but one thing I'm aware of is that I don't want to completely miss out on my privacy. I am doing well though coping with it, and I'd have to say the hardest aspect of what I do is putting up with being away from my family when I have to travel."

With the release of the first film, the global press was talking up the young stars as 'overnight sensations', but Hudgens never bought into the myth. "I don't really think what I've gone through is overnight success, because if you knew me you'd of course know that I grew up doing this. All of us in fact have basically been doing musical theatre from a young age. That is the first love - even before acting on film. We all come from that background. We're used to doing shows and singing and dancing every night."

Once HSM3 has been released, no doubt to hefty box-office receipts (it has already broken the record for pre-sold tickets in the UK), Hudgens will return to thinking about how she can carry her ready-made fan base with her on a long musical career. "My fans are both fans of these films, and also a different audience. I can cater to them but also it's important to reach out to other people and with my music I aim for both an older and younger audience. I was 16 when I did High School Musical and as I get older I have to be true to myself and do what feels right. But certainly not to the point where my younger fans would feel alienated at all."

High School Musical 3: Senior Year opens on December 4.