Before he was a singing high school student, Zac Efron was a boy genius studying to be a doctor. In space.

Back in 2002, a 14-year old Efron made a guest appearance in the cult-classic sci-fi show “Firefly,” Joss Whedon’s space western. The soon-to-be “High School Musical” star played a young Simon, who, played by Sean Maher, was a crew member of Serenity, the smuggling ship of Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion).

Efron can be seen playing with some sort of tablet device and cursing in another language. It was his first major role, and four years later, his star would explode on the Disney Channel.

Now, Efron is filming the all-star ensemble romantic comedy “New Year’s Eve.” Not a bad career arc.

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