Vanessa Anne Hudgens

That was awesome. I really got a kick out of it,” recalls Hudgens, now 15 and poised to have her acting career break open. “I remember my friend was at Vons with her father, and her father pointed to the magazine and said, ‘Look at that Spice Girl.’ And my friend said, ‘Dad! That’s not a Spice Girl, that’s my friend Vanessa!’ ”

In July, Hudgens’ friends, not to mention the rest of us, will get to watch her up on the big screen. She plays Tin-Tin in Universal’s Thunderbirds, starring Ben Kingsley and Bill Paxton. Geared to a preteen audience, Thunderbirds is a science-fiction comedy/thriller in which kids are called on to save the day from bad guys. “Filming this movie was the most fun in my whole entire life,” says Hudgens, who has been in a halfdozen TV shows and had a small part in Thirteen, the critically acclaimed movie starring Holly Hunter and Evan Rachel Wood. “The set of Thunderbirds was like one big ride. There was this big robotic claw that would carry us around.” Yes, she got to do a few of her own stunts.

Until recently, Hudgens danced, sang and acted from a home base in Vista. Her father, Greg, works in San Clemente for the Federal Fire Department. Both Greg and his wife, Gina, had a parent or two in the entertainment business. And Vanessa’s 7-yearold sister, Stella, has also caught the acting bug.

Looking to the future, the Hudgens clan hopes Thunderbirds leads to sequels —and bigger paydays for Vanessa. As for her personal goal, Vanessa wouldn’t mind mirroring the career of Charlize Theron. “I want to be a movie star, and I want to be respected as an actor,” she says. “I’d like to be known as more than just a pretty face. That’s what Charlize Theron did when she acted in Monster.”

Before that, though, one quick professional side trip: “I really, really, really want to try out for American Idol. But I have to wait until I’m 16.

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