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Gabriella Montez is the main female character of the High School Musical trilogy. An exemplary academic, she moved to East High where she became a member of the Scholastic Decathlon Team. She participated in theater as a singer and did mostly duets with her romantic partner, Troy Bolton. After graduating high school, she pursued law at Stanford University.

Gabriella is portrayed by Vanessa Hudgens.

Physical Appearance[]

Gabriella is a tan-skinned young lady of Hispanic descent with wavy brown hair and brown eyes. In the first film, her hair is long reaching below her waist and wavy. In the second film, her hair is changed to be shorter and it is shoulder length and sometimes curly or wavy or straight. In the third film, her hair is long again reaching below the chest and wavy.

Her wardrobe consists of mostly dresses and her casual clothes are in bright colors. Since the second installment, Gabriella wears a necklace with a charm in the shape of the letter "T" as in Troy Bolton, gifted to her by none other than her boyfriend.

Personality[]

Gabriella is an intelligent and kind-hearted person, but she sometimes struggles with anxiety and adapting to change, exemplified by how difficult it is for her to move to new places whenever her mother's job requires it. This struggle was shown even when she left to attend the college of her dreams because it pained her to say goodbye to yet another home.

Although she can be anxious and doesn’t like to be the center of attention, Gabriella’s shyness seems to dissipate when she loses herself in a song and lets herself live in the moment. She urges Troy to enjoy the present rather than worry about the future in the second film. She seems happiest when enjoying the current moment, whether it’s dancing with Troy on the school roof or taking funny pictures for the yearbook. However, she can also be nostalgic. She reminisces about fond memories in Kindergarten, and she has a hard time leaving behind places where she had enjoyable experiences.

Though thinking about the future tends to bring her down on account of reluctance to let go of what is presently good and working, she realizes that she can’t run away from the future forever. She develops a clearer insight of what she wants for herself throughout the series and has the ability to read Troy and his motives accurately.

She finds it hard to make decisions concerning college and such. Taylor even scolds her for wanting to give up the opportunity to go to Stanford early so that she can stay with Troy, whom she sees as clouding Gabriella’s judgment. Nonetheless, she is shown to be an excellent student with good organizational skills and self-reliance.

High School Musical[]

Gabriella lives with and is primarily looked after by her mother, but there is no mention of her father or any siblings.

She meets Troy Bolton at a family bar during their winter break as they are both forced to sing karaoke in the New Year's Eve party at the Ski Mountain Resort. Upon singing with each other ("Start of Something New"), They instantly feel a connection, and, as fate would have it, they end up attending the same school (East High).

There, they become close friends, and eventually begin dating. When the two meet up at the auditions for the winter concert, they try out for the callbacks and do a reprise of a song called What I've Been Looking For.

Troy, being the basketball star of East High with no association whatsoever with theater or singing, and Gabriella, with a public image that marks her permanent social place among the braniacs, become the talk of the school, and several people begin confessing to other hobbies they have. When she and Taylor come into the lunchroom, she spills her food on Sharpay Evans, the school's drama club president and resident mean girl.

The next day, Taylor Mckessie and Chad Danforth scheme to make Troy say mean things on a live stream, which Taylor shows to Gabriella to make her think Troy doesn't care about their singing. She then sings When There Was Me and You, confessing her sadness and chiding herself for believing Troy actually liked her. When Troy comes to talk to her (about rehearsals, most likely) she says she is done, breaking up with him.

Taylor and the decatholon team try and tell her the truth, about how they tricked Troy into saying those things, but Gabriella doesn't believe them. That night, Troy comes to her house and tries to talk to her, but she doesn't want to see him. He comes to her balcony and reminds her of the first time they sang together. Their relationship renewed, the two began practicing for the basketball game, the decatholon, and the callbacks.

But unbeknownst to them, Sharpay heard them sing and tells Ms. Darbus to move the callbacks to the same day and time as the basketball game and decatholon. The next day, they see that on the billboard and realize what Sharpay and Ryan have done. The decatholon team and the basketball team then come up with a plan to get Troy and Gabriella to the callbacks on time.

The day of the basketball game, decatholon, and callbacks, Troy and the basketball team present Gabriella and the decatholon team with a pi cake, and the decatholon team shows the Wildcats a billboard they made then bombard them with stuffed basketballs.

Gabriella and the decatholon team then are shown getting ready for the decatholon against the West High Knights. She solves an equation correctly, and then she watches as Taylor sneakily sends a code that makes the scoreboard in the gym malfunction. Then, the beaker in front of them starts eminating a foul odor, which causes everyone to run out of the room.

She and Troy run into the theater, but Ms. Darbus refuses to let them sing, but Kelsi convinces her. Kelsi starts playing, but Gabriella is too nervous. Troy reminds her of something of the first time they sang together, "like kindergarten". The two began singing "Breaking Free" and are given the role.

After the basketball game, Gabriella congratulates Troy and sing "All in This Together".

The movie ends with Troy and Gabriella dancing.

High School Musical 2[]

Gabriella has maintained her romance with Troy, and the couple, along with their friends, get jobs at the Lava Springs Country Club. Gabriella takes the position of a responsible and adept lifeguard. However, Sharpay Evans gets angry because she bribed Fulton to get Troy Bolton a job--not the entire East High student body. Seeking revenge, Sharpay lures Troy away from Gabriella and his friends by showering him with various luxuries, including promising college opportunities. She even sings him a song ("Humuhumunukanuka'apua'a") complete with lights, a set and a whole onstage performance in an attempt to win over Troy and makes him promise to sing with her. Gabriella has made more friends in the time and becomes close with Ryan Evans. After Troy repeatedly breaks his promises and backs out of his commitments, Gabriella breaks up with him and quits her job at Lava Springs, claiming that working together sounded good, but is too hard now given their recent issues. During this scene Gabriella belts out "Gotta Go My Own Way," and drives away with her mother at the end, leaving Troy heartbroken and giving back the T necklace. However, the two of them reunite at the end after Troy apologizes to his friends, gets his job back, confronts Sharpay and learns a new song--a duet he and Gabriella sing at the talent show, entitled "Everyday." Afterwards, she and Troy kiss on the golf course.

High School Musical 3: Senior Year[]

A Stanford-bound Gabriella is uneasy about the fast pace her life has taken. Before graduation, Gabriella briefly considers taking classes at the local university for a year and going to Stanford when she is ready, much to the dismay of Taylor McKessie and Mrs. Montez. Troy urges Gabriella to accept an early orientation. Gabriella goes to Stanford but must drop out of the school musical (allowing Sharpay Evans to fill the lead role) and miss prom. Wanting his last dance at East High to be with Gabriella, Troy drives to Stanford and the two share an intimate prom of their own. He convinces Gabriella to return to East High for opening night of the musical and for graduation. Gabriella sings in the spring play, and her classmates put together a surprise reunion complete with gifts, hugs, and flowers for Gabriella onstage during the performance of "Just Wanna Be with You." Gabriella will attend Stanford and study law and she put her house up for sale before she graduated high school.

Etymology[]

  • The name Gabriella has many meanings depending on the different languages:
    • In Italian, it means "Woman of God"
    • In Spanish, it means "God is my strength"
    • In Hebrew, it means "Devoted to God"

It is a feminine form of the name Gabriel.

Trivia[]

  • Gabriella is the youngest of the High School Musical, High School Musical 2 and High School Musical 3: Senior Year groups.
  • When Gabriella started East High, she called herself " The School's Freaky Genius Girl"
  • Gabriella's Zodiac is Gemini.
  • According to Sharpay, Gabriella has moved every summer for the past five years. Meaning her mom had been transferred every year since Gabriella was about 11.
  • Even though Vanessa Hudgens is of Filipino descent, Gabriella is meant to be Hispanic. Contrary to the belief of some HSM fans.

Gallery[]

Main: Gabriella Montez/Gallery
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