After weeks of performances, clues, and bad guesses from the judges (we’re looking at you, Ken Jeong), The Masked Singer Season 11 finale is finally here, and it’s time for us to share our comprehensive theory for why Vanessa Hudgens is Goldfish.
Fans won’t know who Goldfish actually on The Masked Singer until the Season 11 finale on May 22, 2024. However, based on the clues that Goldfish has given throughout The Masked Singer Season 11, we’re confident that Hudgens, an actress best known for The High School Musical franchise, is the celebrity under the mask. Read on for the clues that support Hudgens as Goldfish on The Masked Singer Season 11.
Goldfish performed “Vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo in Week 1 of The Masked Singer Season 11, which was a clue to Hudgens. Rodrigo played Nini Salazar-Roberts in Disney Plus’ High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. In Season 1 of HSMTMTS, Nini played Hudgens’ High School Musical character, Gabriella Montez, in a high school production of the Disney Channel original movie.
Hudgens was in a high-profile relationship with her High School Musical co-star, Zac efron, from 2005 to 2010. “A sense of knowing I’m a part of something bigger than myself has allowed me to enjoy life more,” Hudgens told Marie Claire in 2013 about the media attention she received during her relationship with Efron. “And not worry about the little things, like paparazzi.”
One of Hudgens’ first movies after the end of the High School Musical franchise was 2013 thriller The Frozen Ground, in which she played Cindy Paulson, a 17-year-old prostitute who escapes the murder of real-life Alaskan serial killer Robert Hansen and helped lead police to his capture. “I mean it’s different from anything I’ve done but that’s the way I love it. I keep on doing these different parts – but she’s a girl who has very little self love, you know she, she’s just a survivor I really admire that about her,” Hudgens told Wonderland magazine at the time about how the movie was different than the work on the Disney Channel.
A glass slipper is worn by Cinderella in Walt Disney’s 1950 movie Cinderella. Hudgens’ movie franchise, High School Musical, is also a Disney production and aired on Disney Channel. Cinderella, who is a princess, could also be a reference to Hudgens’ Netflix movie franchise, The Princess Switch.
Hudgens has been in two public relationships. She dated Zac Efron for five years from 2005 to 2010, and she dated Austin Butler for nine years from 2011 to 2020. In an interview with Shape in 2021, Hudgens revealed that her mother was 25 years old when she got married, a timeline she also thought she would follow. “Where I am now is better than I could have dreamed of,” Vanessa said. “My relationship with myself is something I value deeply, even if things don’t always go the way I expected. For instance, my mom got married at 25, so I always thought I was going to be married at 25. That didn’t happen,” she said.
Hudgens has run into her ex-boyfriends Zac Efron and Austin Butler at numerous events since their breakups. The most infamous run-in was at the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscars Party, where TikTok videos showed Butler waving to fans as Hudgens walked past him while texting on her phone.
Hudgens starred in three Christmas movies for Netflix: 2018’s The Princess Switch; 2020’s The Princess Switch: Switched Again; and 2021’s The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star.
Hudgens played Lorelei, a human who is turned into a vampire in 2015 movie, Freaks and Nature.
Hudgens’ father, Greg Hudgens, died of cancer one day before she performed in Fox’s Grease Live! special, in which she played the role of Rizzo.
Hudgens starred as Kailani in the 2012 movie, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, about adventurer Sean Anderson’s quest to find his missing grandfather on a mythical island.
Hudgens got her start in musical theater and performing in a local production of The Wizard of Oz.
Hudgens starred as Lindy Taylor in 2011’s Beastly, which is a modern retelling of the fairytale Beauty and the Beast, featuring a magic rose.
Hudgens and Ken Jeong worked together in the 2021 animated movie, My Little Pony: A New Generation. They also appeared together in an episode of Late Night With Seth Meyers in 2018.
