nolan gerard funk shirtless

This may be heresy to some, but Nolan Gerard Funk is setting his sights high.

The young actor is being promoted as the next Zac Efron. He'll star in next week's Nickelodeon original movie Spectacular!

Will High School Musical fans jump aboard the bandwagon of this new franchise, now that Efron and company have moved on? Funk, a Vancouver native that is fluent in French and filmed a music video last year alongside Miranda Cosgrove, leads the film's cast. He plays Nikko.

In a meanwhile, the young star of the "High School Musical" series of television films, is looking forward to a relaxing trip to Australia for the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in Sydney this week. I'm highly amused by these pictures of Zac on the red carpet with The Veronicas singers Jess and Lisa Origliasso. It makes him look like a very specific-type of Hugh Hefner, except that I'm pretty sure there's a pretty big difference between him and Hugh and I'm only going to use one phrase to hint at why I have my suspicions--perfectly-groomed eyebrows. In any case, Zac's planning on enjoying himself and is avoiding all questions about the subject of the recent nude picture scandal involving his girlfriend and co-star, Vanessa Hudgens.

"I just want to have fun this time,'' he said.

"I'm not going to tell anyone what I'm doing, but it's going to be hanging out and there's going to be water close by."

Judging from his Mr. Rogers sweater, I'm guessing he's got some real low-key activities planned. Like a threesome with Henrietta Pussycat and Lady. Just kidding, of course! They're girl puppets, silly.