Kylie Cantrall had an absolute blast joining the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series cast for the fourth and final season of the show.
“I think … one of the biggest takeaways I would say from filming with the Wildcats [is that] they’re such a tight unit. They’re all such a strong family,” Cantrall, 18, exclusively told Us Weekly in an interview ahead of the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike. “Of course that’s kind of what I expected since I was coming into season 4. They had already been together for many, many years.”
The close connection between the cast members “exceeded” Cantrall’s exceptions. “Coming into their dynamic and [seeing] how much they support one another and lift each other up [was great],” she added. “They’re each other’s biggest cheerleaders and there’s just so much energy always on set.”
The actress, who played Dani in the hit Disney+ series, enjoyed watching music play a role — not just on screen, but off as well.
“It’s literally a musical off screen as much as it is on screen. Like Joshua Bassett, he’s constantly on the piano [playing songs]. I’ve literally always said you can hear him from a mile away because he is always singing and dancing. But that’s really true for everyone in the cast,” she continued. “I’d never been a part of a cast that was this big with this many people all the same age. So getting to experience that was really cool. It just felt like a party every day. They welcomed me with open arms.”
Cantrall praised HSMTMTS for allowing her to bring a character like Dani to life.
“One thing I love about Dani is her confidence. She just has this air about her. When she walks in a room, her presence is known. She just commands attention. And sometimes it can be in a way that’s like,‘OK girl, relax. I see you,'” she joked. “She can definitely be a little extra sometimes. I would definitely say that I admire her confidence and I would just tell her to chill a little bit more. She can be intimidating.”
Cantrall nabbed her iconic HSMTMTS role after getting her start on shows such as Bizaardvark, Raven’s Home, Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. and Gabby Duran & the Unsittables. Cantrall has continued to explore her creativity outside of acting with a successful music career.
“If I wasn’t acting well, I’d just be doing music. That’s always been my No. 1. I always thought of myself as a singer first and actor second. Luckily, I get to do them both simultaneously, which is really cool. But I also like the idea of making them separate in a way,” Cantrall shared with Us. “Like Kylie the music artist and then Kylie the actress. It’s different.”
The Disney Channel alum continued: “But there are some instances like HSMTMTS and Descendants: The Rise of Red where I get to incorporate both aspects and the two worlds come together. [That] is really fun too.”
Coming off her memorable HSMTMTS appearance, Cantrall is thrilled to share her new single “Texts Go Green” with her fan base.
“I haven’t put out music in a year, so [there is a high] amount of anticipation that’s going into this. I could not be more excited to get some more music out there,” she teased. “And I really, really love this song. So I can’t wait for the world to hear it.”
With reporting by Angela Cuseo
