Actress, recording artist and “So You Think You Can Dance” judge Vanessa Hudgens has her longtime home in the foothills above Studio City, Calif., up for sale at $3.85 million. The “High School Musical” franchise alum, who had a plum role earlier this year in the technical issue riddled televised musical “Rent: Live” and is set to appear on the silver screen opposite Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the upcoming crime-comedy “Bad Boys for Life,” purchased the Mediterranean-inspired residence in 2008 for $2.75 million. Listing agent TJ Paradise of Sotheby’s International Realty told the property gossips at Mansion Global that during her decade of ownership Hudgens made a number of alterations and improvements including painting the exterior bright white and adding a variety of Moorish decorative and design flourishes throughout the two-story residence that makes a commanding statement high above the street atop a three-car garage with six bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms in somewhere around 5,200-square feet.
A curved stairway makes a grand sweep up to a small front porch and carved wood door that opens to a double-foyer with a floating, wrought iron railed staircase that serves as the central, vertical axis of the long and tall three-story house. A formal sitting room with French doors to a grassy area of the backyard shares a double-sided raised hearth fireplace with a formal dining room that features an opulently gold-leafed circular ceiling inset as well as an eye-catching circular doorway accented with curlicued wrought iron grillwork.
With mottled brown and tan granite countertops and a mix of white and jade green cabinetry, the high-end kitchen is well-equipped with an expensive array of up-to-date designer appliances and opens to an informal dining area with windows that frame long, open views that extend clear across the San Fernando Valley. The adjoining family room has another fireplace set into a full wall of cabinets with integrated media equipment along with two sets of full-height glass doors that lead to an al fresco dining loggia while a black-walled home theater offers a more authentically cinematic experience with a wide-screen projection system.
Several en suite guest bedrooms on the top floor are joined by a spacious master suite where a tile-accented double-sided fireplace divides a cozy sitting room from a separate bedroom that opens to a private terrace with sweeping, cross-valley views. Nestled tightly up against a steep slope and defined by enormous, gleaming white retaining walls, the long, slender and somewhat compact but cleverly puzzled backyard manages to incorporate a small patch of lawn, a couple of loggias and multi-level terracing around a lagoon-style swimming pool with waterfall and spa.
Late last year, word slipped down the real estate gossip grapevine that Hudgens had acquired a walled and gated estate in the foothills of L.A.’s Los Feliz area sold by English Oscar winner Gary Oldman in a nearly $5 million off-market deal and property records indicate that in the spring of 2018 the triple-threat entertainer went bi-coastal with the not quite $1 million, under-the-radar purchase of a one-bedroom condo in a luxury loft conversion in Brooklyn’s all but fully gentrified, ultra-hipster Williamsburg neighborhood.
listing photos: Sotheby’s International Realty