Zac Efron’s drastic facial transformations over 20 years

He was the childhood sweetheart who captured the nation’s hearts with his bright blue eyes, rosy cheeks and button nose.

Yet in recent years, Zac Efron has been pictured looking drastically different from the fresh-faced star of High School Musical.  

Amid swirling cosmetic surgery rumours, Zac has again sparked confusion over his seemingly ever-changing jawline owing to his appearance in new Netflix film, A Family Affair.

Zac, 36, claims his changing appearance is a result of a near-death experience in 2013, when he slipped in a puddle of water and smashed his chin into a granite fountain, leaving his chin bone was ‘hanging off his face’.

He has insisted the masseter muscles on the inside of his face and jaw ‘compensated’ for his injury, leading to his changed shape and has denied any cosmetic surgery.

Now a leading plastic surgeon has weighed in on the changing face of Zac Efron. 

2004

In 2004, fresh-faced Zac made his major break in the world of TV.

Aged just 16, he landed his first recurring character in the first season of the WB drama series, Summerland, where he starred as Cameron Bale.

Zac looked worlds away from what we know of him today as his defined jawline and features were still yet to bloom.

Speaking on Zac’s younger features plastic surgeon Dr Mark Solomos told MailOnline: ‘As a young boy Zac appears to have more of an oval shaped face which is a combination of square and round.

‘The face is usually longer than it is wide as we can see in this picture from 2010 ‘

2005

The teen actor was picked up for the Summerland’s second and final series where he was then promoted to the main cast.

He also found himself being noticed for other major shows, such as CSI: Miami, where he played Seth Dawson in the Episode of Sex And Taxes.

Here, he still had his noticeable boyish features, as his soft eyes and fuller cheeks are still part of his main facial features.

In 2005, Zac also landed a role in his second movie, The Derby Stallion and Patrick McCardle.

2006

Staring to cement his name in the world of showbiz, Zac started to look more like a sweet teen in 2006.

His coy smile helped him land one of his biggest career roles as Troy Bolton in High School Musical.

Portrayed as a high school heartthrob and captain of the basketball team, the teen actor was born for the role.

Zac grew into his more masculine features as his chin became slightly more prominent and less rounded.

In 2006, he also made his debut on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, where he starred as Trevor in the episode Odd Couples.

2007

Aged 19, Zac became one of the most swoon-after teenagers in the UK as he landed another huge box hit lead, High School Musical 2.

In 2007 his rounded child chin had formed a much stronger jawline and his former snub nose started to develop into a Roman shape.

Zac’s more masculine features also landed him a leading role as Link Larkin in another box-office smash, Hairspray.

In his final year as a teenager, his heartthrob aura also landed him an appearance n Vanessa Hudgens’s Say OK music video.

2008

In 2008, Zac showed the world that the remainder of his boyish looks were no more.

Hiding under his floppy overgrown bowlcut, the acting sensation starred in High School Musical 3.

With his slightly more prominent cheekbones and stronger chin, he officially said goodbye to his childhood features in 2008.

Zac also starred in Me and Orsen Welles as Richard Samuels. 

2009

But in 2009, he made his statement in the development as he slicked his long locks back into a lengthy combover.

As he starred as Mike O’Donnell in 17 Again, Zac looked worlds apart from his 17-year-old self. 

He flaunted his thicker chin, higher cheekbones, and slightly angular jawline.

This year, he also appeared in Entourage during the Security Briefs episode.

2010

In keeping with the trends of 2010, Zac chose to display his more masculine features and switch up his hairstyle to a wavy quiff.

Aged 22, Zac had undoubtedly started to grow into his mature features as he started showing more and more stubble around his slightly squaring jawline.

He had grown entirely out of his diamond-shaped chin in 2006.

Speaking on Zac’s features plastic surgeon Dr Mark Solomos said: ‘By 2010 Zac has matured and his face has filled out somewhat accordingly, as we would expect to see. His jawline is perhaps more angular but not due to any interventions- he’s simply “grown into his face.”

‘What I do notice in this image is that Zac appears to have some displacement or asymmetry; his right side seems to be lower.’

This year, Zac started starring in less teenage-targeted romcoms and landed a leading role as Charlie in Charlie St. Cloud.

2011

Zac made a statement in 2011 as he shaved off the last of his teenage locks and showed the world his growth into adulthood.

Highlighting his thicker lips and stronger chin, Zac took a shaver to the head for his first role as a serious adult starring role.

Preparing for his future role as a US marine sergeant in The Lucky One, the actor’s face had finally outgrown his younger looks.

As his face had officially transformed Zac was soon being scouted for more roles as he starred in five films that year: At Any Price, Liberal Arts, The Lorax, The Lucky One and The Paperboy.

2012

The year 2012 was the last Zac would know his face as it was.

With his slightly squared, rounded jawline, blended chin, and fully developed straight nose, Zac was the epitome of handsome.

His cheekbones, while slightly prominent, where still mostly blended into his full cheeks.

And Zac’s facial features may have developed dramatically in his entry into adulthood, but there was still a huge change to come that he was not expecting.

2013

In 2013, Zac was rarely pictured at events and only starred in one film.

At the time, no one seemed to flag his lack of attendance and work, but many years later, he revealed that he ‘nearly died’.

Speaking to Men’s Health Magazine, the actor revealed he slipped on a pair of socks while running at his home, which caused him to smash his chin into a granite fountain.

The star explained that he lost consciousness only to wake up with ‘his chin bone hanging off his face.’

2014

In 2014, the changes to its face were not as drastic as what we know them to be today, but there were noticeable differences.

His jawline became less soft and much more angular and marked.

During this year, Zac’s chin was still blending well into the lower part of his face, but his nose bridge had become much flattered and wider.

At this point, few spotted any changes in his facial features, and so the horrific accident was not common knowledge.

This year, Zac starred in Neighbours as Teddy Sanders and in That Awkward Moment as Jason, which was also his executive producer debut.

2015

Zac’s face started to increasingly change through 2015.

His jaw started to broaden, and his nose bridge started to change shape as it became flatter and formed an hourglass silhouette.

While his face was developing, it was noticeable enough at the time for people to notice the slight changes.

After accessing his face in 2010, Dr Mark Solomos said:’Fast forward to 2015 and that asymmetry has been corrected. 

‘His right side is no longer lower than the left and it appears to me that he’ll have had some kind of surgery to correct that, possibly orthognathic with plates and screws or removing part of the bone.’ 

The Hairspray lead also starred in We Are Your Friends as Cole Carter.

2016

In 2016, Zac looked completely different from all his former years, and it wasn’t just because his jaw was getting increasingly thicker.

Not only was his nose becoming more hourglass-shaped, but he also experimented with his hair and gave himself blond highlights.

Aged 28, Zac’s chin had also started to become less faded and was increasingly getting stronger.

This was the year the blond actor stopped filming for Robot Chicken, which he first made an appearance for in 2009 and had starred in five episodes for various roles.

Zac also took on the roles of Jason Kelly in Dirty Grandpa, Dave Stangle in Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, and Teddy Sanders for Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising.

2017

After ditching his blond highlights, Zac looked as handsome as ever in 2017.

His facial features were still adapting from his reported accident and his cheekbones looked higher and more prominent than before.

Zac’s cheeks seemed less fuller and his chin started to show a lot more shape around his face.

The end of his nose appeared to have dipped further and become much slimmer toward the ends of his nose.

This was the year Zac flaunted his very hunky physique for the movie Baywatch where he starred as Matt Brody.

The same year, he also portrayed Phillip Carlyle in The Greatest Showman and Dan Janjigian in The Disaster Artist.

2018 

Zac looked drastically different in 2018 as he looked much more mature compared to the year before. 

Rocking a stubble beard and slightly longer moustache, the acting sensation looked incredible as he matched his striking jawline. 

In keeping with natural brunette locks, Zac looked more like his year self than other years where he had undergone for huge transformations whether it be for personal reasons or profeesional. 

Zac starred in no movies or TV shows in 2018.  

2019

In 2019 Zac looked almost unrecognisable as he completely transformed over the year for his role as Flicker in The Beach Bum.

His jaw had its accustomed prominence, his cheeks appeared more hollow and his chin looked much more prominent.

His cheekbones were also noticeably higher and much more distinguishable.

These much more noticable changes in his facial features, paired with his new silver quiff, meant Zac looked worlds away from anything we had seen him like before.

He also starred as Ted Bundy in the Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile biography.

2020

And the transformations kept coming for Zac as he opted for a thick grizzly beard and overgrown moustache for 2020.

Aged 32 with a trendy skin fade, the actor looked worlds away from his previous year as he looked much more full in the face.

His hollowed cheekbones were much fuller and reminiscent of his younger years.

Zac’s facial hair hid his squared jawline, but his cheekbones were much more noticeable with his fuller and softer-looking features.

He released his year of Down to Earth with Zac Efron in 2020 and voiced Fred Jones for Scoob!

2021

The Baywatch star made shockwaves in 2021 when fans first noticed his evolving new look, which he claimed was due to a nasty fall that ‘shattered his jaw’.

He found himself to be a trending Twitter topic in April of that year after he sparked plastic surgery rumours when revealing a supposedly new appearance that has set social media abuzz over his ‘new face.’

The former Disney child star prompted alarm when he appeared noticeably different while participating in Earth Day! The Musical via Facebook.

Zac’s part in the clip came at the 1.50 mark when he began to call organiser Bill Nye a ‘genius’ for the event, but fans were perhaps too distracted by his changing looks to listen to what the star had to say.

While some of the memes and comments were mean-spirited, other fans genuinely appeared to be surprised by seeing Zac with what seemed to be a more blocky jawline and puffiness around his face.

In 2021, Zac voiced Bobby for Save Ralph and carried on shooting Down to Earth with Zac Efron for its second year.

2022

Zac was first hit with his plastic surgery accusations in 2021, but it wasn’t until 2022 that he addressed the rumours.

He claimed that he had no idea that fans were so crazed by his changed jawline and only found out when his own mother called him to ask if he had gone under the knife.

In October 2022, he claimed that his accident from 2013 was why he looked so different.

He said that when he was injured, the masseter muscles on the inside of his face and jaw ‘compensated’ for his injury, causing them to grow in size—hence his remarkable transformation.

‘The masseters just grew. They just got really, really big’, he said.

The star also claimed to not know that he was a huge talking point on social media and had in fact gone viral for his different-looking jaw.

‘If I valued what other people thought of me to the extent that they may think I do,’ he told Men’s Health, ‘I definitely wouldn’t be able to do this work’ he said at the time.

Assessing his features in 2022, Dr Mark Solomos said: ‘In 2022 his jaw looks really square which has changed his oval face shape somewhat. 

‘I would suggest that perhaps he wasn’t happy with the previous surgery and so he’s gone back and had his jaw augmented- possibly with a chin implant or further orthognathic surgery.’ 

2023

Despite Zac revealing the reason behind his changed features, fans were still not convinced.

During multiple appearances through the year, Zac’s jaw looked more domineering than ever.

As the rumours continued, even his friends had to start weighing in on them in 2023.

Zac’s pal Kyle Sandilands had also spoken on his behalf – saying the Baywatch star would never do such a thing, comparing him to an oil painting by one of the Old Masters.

The Australian radio host, who has known Zac for years, shut down speculation during The Kyle and Jackie O Show at the time.

‘I would know if he’d had any plastic surgery,’ Kyle declared before telling his co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson that ‘of course’ Zac hadn’t had work done.

He then said it would be pointless for the High School Musical heartthrob to have surgery because he’s already so good-looking.

‘It’s like getting a Picasso and having a kid finger paint all over it. Why bother?’ he said bluntly.

2024

Concluding all his thoughts on Zac’s transforming features Dr Mark Solomos said: ‘I think he’s had that [issues mentioned from 2022] reversed or removed as the jaw we can see has lost its angular shape and the face is more rounded.

‘It’s also worth noting that Zac’s weight and body shape has changed many times over the years to accommodate various roles- weight loss/gain, diets etc will also have an impact on one’s face- naturally if there’s more weight on a face it will appear softer and rounder too.’

And despite all his efforts to bring truth to the rumours, Zac has been hit with a fresh batch recently after fans watched his most recent hit, A Family Affair.

In the romantic comedy, which co-stars Nicole Kidman and Joey King, the 36-year-old actor is seen with a noticeably wider jaw and stockier facial features, and viewers have been quick to point out just how different he now looks.

‘Trying to watch #AFamilyAffair with #ZacEfron, but I’m way too distracted by whatever he did to his beautiful face, why would he do that to himself?’ one X user wrote while watching the new movie.

Another simply shared, ‘WTF has he done to his face???’

Despite his explanation, fans continued to question Zac’s transformation after the movie – as well as some behind-the-scenes footage the actor shared on his Instagram account.

‘What happened to Zac Efron’s face? Did he get a bunch of filler? He looks 50 years up close,’ wrote one.

Yet another added: ‘Can’t be the only one who thinks Zac Efron looks weird with that face … couldn’t concentrate on the movie ……

Others rushed to defend the star, citing his previous surgery following a serious fall years ago.

‘A tweet about Zac Efron’s face goes viral literally every month & every single time someone has to explain what happened to his jaw & how he had to get reconstructive surgery & what not, this sh** is tiring.’