The new “it” girl

By: Brianne Shamburger
Posted In: Entertainment

With the latest crop of celebrity “It Girls” finding themselves in rehab, prison and then rehab again, the crown is vacant. Who wants it?

I’ve found that there are three girls that have a pretty good case for the title of “Teen Queen,” Vanessa Hudgens, Hayden Panettiere and Amanda Bynes. These girls are bright, young stars that appeal to today’s high school youth.

For those of you that don’t know, Vanessa Hudgens, 18, is the star of Disney’s monster hit High School Musical. She is also currently dating Hollywood’s resident “It Boy”, Zac Efron. These two qualities already make her a top contender for the role of teen icon.

She made her feature film debut in Thirteen, but when she landed the role of brainiac with a sweet heart in what became one of Disney’s most popular movies, her status really blew up. Last year she released her debut album, V, which made it to No. 24 on the Billboard chart, not too shabby. More recently, Hudgens has become even more famous, or rather infamous, for the recent leak of her nude pictures. But, since when did that ever hurt anyone’s career? Right, Paris?

Now we can all remember the sweet little tomboy in Remember the Titans. Well, that sweet little tomboy has grown up and she’s making heads turn. Hayden Panettiere, 18, was voted No. 6 on For Him Magazine’s 100 Sexiest Women in 2007. She was also ranked the No. 1 star in Entertainment Weekly’s EW’s 100 Stars We Love Right Now.

For those of you who haven’t kept up with her career, Panettiere has been working regularly since childhood. Her recent claim to fame comes in the form of the hit television show Heroes. Panettiere plays the indestructible cheerleader, Claire Bennet. Her character was at the core of season one’s catch phrase, “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World.” She’s also currently working on a debut album, Fallen Love, said to be released sometime next year.

Amanda Bynes, 21, isn’t exactly a newcomer to the teen scene, but she does seem to be on a roll. We first knew Bynes as one of the comedic players on Nickelodeon’s All That; remember it was like SNL for kids?

She is also well known for her role in What a Girl Wants, the story about an American teenager who goes off to find her father, and ends up finding herself. A more recent role was in a 2006 adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night called She’s the Man. After that, she went on to play Penny Pingleton in the summer blockbuster, Hairspray. Her newest movie, Sydney White, is set to premiere September 21, 2007. In case you haven’t seen the trailer, in a nutshell it’s the story of Snow White set in a present day university.

With the fall of Britney and Lindsay almost guaranteed, sorry girls, the time has come for a new “It Girl” to fill their Jimmy Choo shoes. The three girls aforementioned are the forerunners for the coveted position, but only time will tell. Let’s just hope they’re better role models than the late Britney and Lindsay are.