Zac Efron Was One Of The Many Celebrities Who Left Hollywood During The Pandemic. Now He's Living Out Of A Van?

Zac Efron in Down to Earth with Zac Efron
(Image credit: Netflix)

Zac Efron made the same transition that other actors made during the pandemic in leaving the United States for Australia. After selling his Los Angeles property, he made the move in 2021 to the beachy haven of Byron Bay. Now it seems like the High School Musical actor is spending his days now living out of a van.

While Zac Efron has property over in Byron Bay and makes occasional visits to LA for his friends and career, he currently lives a pretty transient lifestyle. He told Men’s Health what the benefits of living out of a van have done for his life.

I’m in a van trying to travel and see as much of the world as I can, or just hiking in the woods and camping.

With this new life transition, Zac Efron lives simply. He owns ten T-shirts, five pairs of workout shorts, a couple of pants, a couple of sweatshirts and two Lululemon shorts-and-hoodie tracksuits that he wears all the time. The Summerland actor has shown in recent years his love of traveling when he filmed the docuseries Down to Earth with Zac Efron that Twitter couldn’t get enough of. He explored the wonders of the world by visiting countries like France, Puerto Rico, London, Iceland, Costa Rica, Peru, and Sardinia to discover sustainable living practices and be one with nature. This series makes me all the more revved up to see him in Season 2, where he’ll be swimming with dolphins! 

It’s no wonder that Zac Efron moved to Byron Bay in the Land Down Under as he slept on a hammock in the trees, dated Australian model Vanessa Valladares before splitting up after ten months, and took moonlit swims with phosphorescent plankton. But when Efron, as well as Australian native actor Chris Hemsworth, moved to the same Australian area, some Australian natives didn't want them there. While it may be quite a spectacle to see ripped celebrities film their big movie productions in the area, it can also drive up real estate prices for residents and become a major tourism attraction. While those are reasonable drawbacks to living amongst celebrities, these A-list actors have a right to make a new life where they see fit.

The next adventure Zac Efron has been trying to seek out is his need for depth in his career. He looked up to actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Pattinson for picking roles that would set them apart from their former teen actor selves. He’ll have the chance to snag that new career beginning he’s been craving in the new AppleTV+ movie The Greatest Beer Run Ever, based on the true story of John "Chickie" Donohue, who delivered beer to his hometown friends fighting overseas during the Vietnam War. While this may seem like Efron is revisiting a version of his past comedic roles, he’ll actually be balancing humor with portraying his character’s humanity. In fact, the film’s director, Green Book’s Peter Farrelly, said early viewers were ways into the film before they realized that was Zac Efron on screen! 

The 34-year-old actor seems to be living his best life outside of Hollywood with just him and his van. We’ll have the chance to watch the Daytime Emmy Award winner disappear into his role in The Greatest Beer Run Ever with your Apple TV+ subscription on September 30th.

Carly Levy
Entertainment Writer

Just your average South Floridian cinephile who believes the pen is mightier than the sword.