Princeton was exactly what I needed
And music was at the center of everything
I started doing the school plays
I fell in love with acting
And then I moved to L.A.
And I restarted on a steady stream of terrible auditions which I did not get
I wound up with six jobs simultaneously just to try and pay my rent
I was a caterer, went to Nascar games to hand out Garnier Fructis samples
And I worked in a flower shop... in a cemetery
My first big break happened years later
And it happened by accident
I was in an audition and the casting director said
"Wow, you look just like the girl who plays Gabriella in High School Musical
If there's ever a production, you should do it"
And as it turned out, Disney was planning a massive national tour
I got an audition and I got the part
She was just like me, this bookish girl who loved to sing
And then felt like she didn't really fit in
And the show was about breaking free of the limitations
Of how other people try to define you
And that felt like a theme for the next few years
I got to play amazing women who are so different from one another
But who all felt to me like they wanted to break free from and rise above their circumstance